Last night we had pan fried steaks, roasted new fingerling potatoes (made in the toaster oven — it has been hot in NYC), and green leaf salad with balsamic and peaches. We drank some Lambrusco and toasted to the health and happiness of our friends’ brand new twins. We toasted to them again later in the night just in case the first toast didn’t stick.
I know many of these week night meals are relatively unremarkable, but I want this blog to be about the simple meals we eat every day. I love a good show pony dish as much as the next lady, but we should also be eating delicious stuff day to day. This meal was very simple and took both of us maybe twenty minutes, plus roasting time, to make. The ingredients were all fresh from the McCarren Park Farmer’s Market and highlighted what is in season right now. I would also like to note that the steaks were grass fed, organic steaks from Arcadian Pastures. They sell fantastic meat at the market every Saturday and that’s where we do all of our meat shopping.
In general I prefer salad with very few major ingredients. Just lettuce, salt, maybe some herbs, and a delicate dressing. Anything but iceberg seems to collapse under too much heavy stuff. I do have a few exceptions, mainly cheese (!), sometimes tomatoes, and some fruits like pears, apples, and peaches. Last night, it was peaches. The addition of the fruit always means we are going to eat all of the salad, and it isn’t going to be a chore at all.
This hardly counts as a recipe, but I’m going to post it anyway:
Salad with Balsamic Vinegar and Peaches
an amount of lettuce, thoroughly washed
1-2 super ripe peaches diced
1/2 – 1 clove garlic crushed and minced
sprig of tarragon or herb(s) of your choice
1 tablespoon dry balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon good olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Put the lettuce in a bowl. Combine the balsamic and olive oil in a proportion you like, and whip vigorously with a fork, add the minced garlic and some of the tarragon, and whip again. Right before eating, dress the salad with you fingers, just coating the leaves. Throw in a dash of salt and a few good turns of pepper. Toss the peaches and remaining tarragon on top, and serve.
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