Salade Nicoise Royale (p. 359)

We had our holiday potluck at the library today, and I wanted to bring something that I could make a night in advance and that I could serve cold. Salade Nicoise Royale has a beautiful presentation and, although the recipe calls for the tuna hot, straight off the grill, can also translate into a cold dish.

This recipe requires pretty minimal cooking -- potatoes and green beans are each cooked in boiling water until tender and the fish itself (tuna steak) is put under the broiler (or on a grill) for 8 minutes per side.

Otherwise this is all about layering. First, place romaine lettuce around the edge of a large platter.

Prepare the potatoes by tossing them in olive oil and red wine vinegar (which I misread and used white wine vinegar instead) and salt and pepper. Cut the potatoes and place them on the lettuce on one end of the platter, with sliced, salted tomatoes at the other end. The cooked green beans are put on both sides of the platter and then all the veggies are scattered with sliced red peppers, green peppers, and red onion. Strew basil leaves over everything.

Place the cooked fish right in the middle of the platter and, just before serving, dress the veggies with a mixture of olive oil, more red wine vinegar, garlic, salt, scallions, and capers.

Everyone thought the presentation was gorgeous, and I really enjoyed this salad.  The only issue is that it's sort of difficult to serve as a real salad since the lettuce is weighed down under everything. I served myself a little of each area except the romaine since I couldn't reach that. I would definitely make this again for a party -- it makes a huge amount -- you can't really tell from this picture how much food this made.

Luckily, I'm heading to another party this evening, so I'll bring all the tasty leftovers there!

red pepper -- $2.35

green pepper -- $1.00

tomato -- $1.53

red onion -- $1.35

romaine lettuce -- $1.99

scallions -- $.99

green beans -- $1.71

potatoes -- $1.62

basil -- $2.99

tuna -- $15.35

Total Cost of Salade Nicoise Royale: $30.88

($3.09 per serving -- though this it's a little hard to gage how many servings this would have been for a real meal, since at a potluck people generally eat less of each item)

Roasted Breaded Mussels (p. 98)

This was just a quickie recipe that I tossed together last night before we headed out to a party, and it was super easy and pretty light. This is meant to be served as an appetizer, but since Matt didn't want any I just ate it as my dinner.

Clean the mussels and remove their beards, discarding any mussels that won't close. Place them in a pan with a little wine and cook until the shells have started to open.

Remove the mussels from their shells, but reserve one half of each shell. Place the half shells on a baking sheet and put one mussel back into each one.

Combine garlic, parsley, oregano, parmigiana, and bread crumbs and sprinkle these over each mussel.

Dribble with olive oil and a little white wine and bake for 10 minutes.

Serve, hot and golden.

Yum. These were a great fast dinner. I'd do them again (in greater quantity) for a fancy pants cocktail party.

parsley -- $1.99

mussels -- $2.23

Total Cost of Roasted Breaded Mussels: $4.22

($4.22 per serving as a meal, $2.11 per serving as an appetizer)

Greek Seafood Stew with Vegetables (p. 114) with Aioli (p. 274)

Okay, it's starting to warm up a little bit here, but I still have soup on the brain. Matt had to work late last night so I was flying solo for dinner -- the perfect chance to make a seafood stew that I knew Matt wouldn't love. (I quartered the recipe so that I wouldn't have leftovers forever.)

Full disclosure: I did leave a couple of potentially "key" ingredients out. Saffron, because it's ridiculously expensive, and anise-flavored liqueur because I've always disliked the flavor of licorice.

Sauté onion in olive oil until soft and then add in carrots, celery, garlic, dried red chili pepper, dried thyme, and a bay leaf.

Throw in a peeled chopped tomato and let everything cook for about 10 more minutes.

Add in water and orange zest and simmer for 20 minutes before adding the fish pieces. I used haddock cut into four nice-sized chunks as well as shrimp. Put in the white fish first and allow it to cook for about 5 minutes. Then add the shrimp and cook until it has become pink and is fully cooked.

Remove the seafood from the dish and pour a mixture or orange and lemon juice into the liquid base of the stew. Simmer briefly before pouring back over the seafood.

The recipe recommended serving this stew with aioli, which is just garlic mayonnaise. It's also a super quick and easy recipe; just blend together one whole egg, an egg white, and salt. Slowly add olive oil and lemon juice to the mix.

Combine garlic and salt into a paste.

Gently stir the garlic mixture into the mayonnaise until it is well combined.

Then just spoon some on to your stew!

Yum. This stew was lovely. I really enjoyed the large chunks of fish and the delicious shrimp, which made it feel very hearty and filling. There is just a hint of citrus from the zest and juices, and the dollop of aioli gave a tiny bit of creaminess to the dish. I'm glad Matt wasn't here because I didn't have to share.

onion -- $1.29

orange -- $.60

lemon -- $.69

haddock -- $4.14

shrimp -- $3.77

tomato -- $1.17

Total Cost of Greek Seafood Stew with Vegetables: $11.66

($5.83 per serving)

Total Cost of Aioli: Free

(I had everything I needed at home.)