The Essential James Beard Cookbook (15 page)

1 cup finely chopped scallions, green and white parts

2 cups coarsely chopped celery, with leaves

1 cup cherry tomatoes or 4 peeled tomatoes cut into sixths

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced

½ cup roasted and peeled green bell pepper strips

12 cornichons (French tiny sour gherkins)

¼ cup drained bottled nonpareil capers

For the Dressing

6 hard-boiled eggs

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 garlic clove

1½ teaspoons kosher salt

¹
⁄
₃
cup wine vinegar

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Dash of Tabasco

1 cup olive oil

To assemble the salad: Line a serving platter with the greens. Arrange the beef, potatoes, scallions, celery, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper strips, cornichons, and capers on top.

To make the dressing: Shell the eggs, separating the whites and yolks. Chop and reserve the whites. Mash the yolks in a medium bowl with a fork and work in the mustard. Mash and smear the garlic with the salt on a chopping board into a paste. Stir into the egg yolk mixture along with the vinegar, pepper, and Tabasco, then gradually whisk in the oil. Pour the dressing over the salad. Garnish with the reserved egg whites.

Editor: True enough, this salad is usually made with leftover braised beef. However, it is equally tasty with sliced roast beef, either homemade or straight from the delicatessen counter.

HUSSAR SALAD

MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS

A very different kind of beef salad that came to me by way of my column, from a reader of Dutch ancestry, Max Dekking. This Dutch national dish is called Huzarensla (Hussar Salad) because it was the favorite meal of the Hussars when they invaded the Netherlands many centuries ago. This is the kind of salad that should be prepared well in advance and left to mellow in a bowl in the refrigerator. Unmolded on a bed of greens it is a most attractive dish for a buffet.

3 cups finely chopped rare roast beef, cold

2 large yellow onions, very finely chopped

2 cups boiled, peeled, and very finely chopped new potatoes (see instructions in
Old-Fashioned Potato Salad
), cold

1 cup very finely chopped cooked or canned beets, cold

½ cup very finely chopped apple

½ cup very finely chopped celery

1 finely chopped shallot or garlic clove

1 large kosher sour dill pickle, very finely chopped

1 cup Mustard
Vinaigrette Sauce
, as needed

2 tablespoons
Mayonnaise
, as needed

Mixed salad greens for serving

2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced, for garnish

Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Combine the roast beef, onions, potatoes, beets, apple, celery, shallot, and pickle (and for this salad they must be
very
finely chopped) in a large bowl. Mix in just enough vinaigrette sauce, plus a spoonful or two of mayonnaise, to bind. The salad must not be sloppy, but firm enough to unmold. Mix everything together well, pack into a 2½- to 3-quart mold or bowl, and leave in the refrigerator for 3 hours. When ready to serve, unmold onto a bed of greens on a platter and garnish with the sliced eggs and chopped parsley.

SALADE NIÇOISE

MAKES 4 TO 6 MAIN-COURSE SERVINGS

This Provençal salad is one of the best of all luncheon dishes. You can vary it to taste, adding other vegetable of your choice. The only constants are the tuna, anchovies, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, and tiny black olives. You can also serve small helpings of the salad as a first course, as they do in Provence. Certain other cooked vegetables may also be added to the salad, such as tiny, boiled new potatoes or sliced boiled potatoes, green beans cooked until just bitey-crisp, or cooked artichoke hearts rather than canned. Little croutons of bread, sautéed until golden brown in oil with a garlic clove, are another good addition. Serve with French bread.

1 head Boston or romaine lettuce

Two 6-ounce cans solid white albacore tuna, drained

20 to 30 anchovy fillets in oil, drained

4 to 6 ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered, or 12 to 18 cherry tomatoes

4 to 6 hard-boiled eggs, quartered

½ cup small Mediterranean black olives, preferably Niçoise olives, pitted

½ cup finely chopped yellow onion or 1 small red onion, sliced into thin rings (optional)

¼ cup pimiento strips (optional)

1 green bell pepper, sliced into thin rings (optional)

½ cup drained canned artichoke hearts (optional)

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil

1 cup
Basic Vinaigrette Sauce

Cover a large platter or line a larger salad bowl with the lettuce leaves. Place the tuna in the center and surround it with the anchovy fillets. Arrange the tomatoes and eggs around the edge of the platter or bowl and sprinkle the olives on top. Add any of the optional ingredients, if using—onion is good in a salade Niçoise, and so are green bell pepper rings. Sprinkle the salad with the basil. When you are ready to serve, pour the vinaigrette sauce over the salad at the table and toss lightly.

BASIC CHICKEN SALAD

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

Of all the main-dish salads in our culinary lexicon, chicken salad is far and away the most popular—and yet it is all too often as badly prepared as many other simple foods. The first necessity is that the salad be made with freshly poached chicken, preferably a plump roasting chicken well endowed with fat. The second is that it should be cooled at room temperature so the meat remains juicy and delicious. Use dark as well as white meat, to add more flavor, and cut it into fairly generous bite-size pieces. (It’s amusing to note that in the old days, when chicken was expensive, many restaurants used cold veal or pork instead. You can too, if you want to be extravagant.)

Garnishing options include halved or quartered hard-boiled eggs and chopped parsley; toasted salted walnut halves and watercress; or toasted salted almonds, thin strips of green pepper, and finely chopped fresh chervil or flat-leaf parsley

3 cups cooled
Poached Chicken
, or roast or poached turkey breast, skinned, boned, and cut in bite-size pieces

1 cup (or to taste)
Mayonnaise
, or use ½ cup each mayonnaise and sour cream or plain yogurt

Salad greens, such as watercress, Boston or Bibb lettuce, or chicory

Mix the chicken and mayonnaise together in a bowl. Arrange on a bed of the greens. Garnish as desired.

CHICKEN SALAD WITH CELERY:
Add 1 cup finely chopped crisp celery to the chicken. Garnish with sliced hard-boiled eggs, capers, and black olives.

CHICKEN SALAD WITH CELERY AND GRAPES:
Add ¾ cup peeled white grapes to the chicken and celery. Garnish with sliced toasted almonds and a few more peeled grapes.

BEEF AND VEAL

Boeuf à la Ficelle (Beef on a String)

Boiled Corned Beef and Cabbage

Pot Roast

Rib Roast of Beef

Roast Fillet of Beef

Elizabeth David’s Stuffed Fillet of Beef

London Broil

Beef Shashlik

Boeuf Bourguignon

Beef Bourguignon Sauté

Jeanne Owen’s Chili con Carne

Daube Provençal

Estouffat de Noël

Viennese Goulash

Deviled Beef Bones

Broiled Steak

Steak au Poivre

Steak Tartare

Swiss Steak

Zrazys Nelson

Sautéed Hamburgers

Old-Fashioned Meat Loaf

Roast Breast of Veal

Stuffed Breast of Veal

Roast Loin or Shoulder of Veal

Vitello Tonnato (Veal with Tuna Sauce)

Ossi Buchi

Veal Ragout

Veal Chops Niçoise

Veal Scallops with Lemon

Sautéed Calf’s Liver with Bacon

Sweetbreads Panné

BOEUF À LA FICELLE

(BEEF ON A STRING)

MAKES 6 SERVINGS

This most unusual way of cooking beef is quite different from boiled beef. Although it is simmered in stock, the end result is rare and deliciously tender. The
ficelle
of the name refers to the string by which the meat is suspended. Serve the same kinds of vegetables you should have with boiled beef—boiled potatoes, carrots, leeks, turnips—and a horseradish and sour cream sauce.

One 2½-pound boneless beef roast (eye-of-the-rib, strip top sirloin, or fillet)

3 pounds beef marrowbones

2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 garlic cloves, crushed under a knife and peeled

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 bay leaf

Tie the beef securely with kitchen twine, crosswise and lengthwise, leaving at each end a piece long enough to suspend the meat in the pot. Pour enough cold water into a deep pot to almost cover the meat; add the marrowbones and the salt, garlic, thyme, pepper, and bay leaf. This is for a broth in which the beef will cook. The meat should not be added until later. Bring the liquid to a boil, skim off the scum that rises to the surface, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour. Then remove the bones and skim the fat off the top of the broth.