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No, not the Lady of Shalott – of shallot. As in this:

Shallots

I tried a recipe from Food and Wine yesterday at the behest of my husband – a tomato and egg salad with an anchovy vinaigrette. The recipe called for a bunch of things I didn’t have, among which were shallots (and some fresh marjoram leaves for a final sprinkling, but I skipped those). Since he was already out and about, he was charged with buying the missing items, which he did, except instead of shallots he brought home a bunch of these:

Scallions

“Great,” I said. “But where are the shallots?”
“This is it,” he said, pointing to the bunch of green onions.
“Um, you know these are not shallots, right? They’re green onions.”
“I didn’t know how they looked so I asked a store attendant where they kept the shallots. He told me green onions and shallots are the same things.”
“I don’t even….hey, wait, he probably thought you said scallions!”
“What are scallions?”

And that is why I do all the cooking in this house, ladies and gentlemen.

You wanna know the recipe? Here it is, simplified for your pleasure (the magazine gave DETAILED instructions on how to boil and cool and peel eggs, but I trust you and I are beyond this, right? Right.)

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 to 1 1/2 lb heirloom tomatoes (any good, flavorful tomato will do in a pinch)
  • 1 shallot (substitute scallions if you must!) – thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • zest from 1 lemon, finely grated (about 1 tbsp)
  • 4 anchovies, mixed (substitute chimichurri or maybe pesto if you’re a vegetarian)
  • 2 eggs, boiled and halved or quartered, whatever
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • salt and pepper (recommended: fleur de sel, but since I didn’t have that, I used grey salt, which worked beautifully)
  • fresh parsley and marjoram leaves for finishing

PREPARATION:

Slice the tomatoes and arrange them on a large platter (or 4 small plates), and add the finely-sliced shallot, the red wine vinegar, the salt and pepper. In a small saucepan, combine the olive oil, lemon zest, minced garlic clove, and minced anchovies (or whatever substitute) and warm it gently over a low simmer for a few minutes; makes sure the mixture is relatively homogeneous and pour over tomatoes. Add the boiled egg slices on top and garnish with fresh parsley and marjoram leaves.

DELISH!

We had this and some Gardein “chicken scallopini” plus some TVP fritters I had made the other night, and a little side of steamed broccoli with lemon, salt, pepper, and sesame seeds. For dessert, a tbsp of “SANE” fudge – peanut butter mixed with Splenda, vanilla, and cocoa powder, plus berries. Wonderful!

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