The Zuni Cafe Cookbook: A Compendium of Recipes and Cooking Lessons from San Francisco's Beloved Restaurant
Air-dried Beef with Butter Lettuce and Coriander Vinaigrette
Page 92
Cuisine: North American | Course Type: Salads
Tags: AJSPRY
Recipe Reviews
wester from Soesterberg, Utr
I thought this was good, but not as brilliant as some other dishes in this cookbook.
I agree with aj12754 on most points:
It definitely needs much more coriander - doubling it is not enough - and it needs to be toasted for longer.
It is very pretty even when you don't follow the plating instructions, with its contrast of dark red and bright green.
I was fine with the oil/vinegar ratio of the vinaigrette.
I made some scrambled eggs with herbs to go with this, some nice bread, and called it a nice summery main course.
aj12754 from Montclair, NJ
Generally, I am not wishy-washy in my response to a dish. I like it or I don't and it's pretty easy to determine what works for me and what doesn't. That's why I am puzzled by my reaction to this very simple salad. I know I was a big fan of the air-dried beef (a.k.a. bresaola) which was something I'd never had before. It was very nice with my good (not great but the best I could find) butter lettuce.
I think it might be the vinaigrette that's throwing me. Generally, I use a 1/3 ratio of vinegar to oil which is kind of standard although some recipes are 1/4. This vinaigrette is a 1/6 ratio. The oilier dressing worked well with the beef but seemed too heavy for the lettuce.
Also, I made a half recipe of the dressing (champagne vinegar, EVOO, salt, coriander seed), but used the full amount of toasted and crushed coriander seed whisked in. And my lunch guest/co-cook and I agreed -- we would have liked even more of the coriander. I'd also like to try this with other kinds of vinaigrette. Maybe a tomato vinaigrette.
Note: Rodgers says to toast the coriander a few seconds -- but I felt that this really had little to no effect and continued toasting (about a minute and a half to two minutes -- until I could smell the coriander but it didn't smell burnt). Next time I will toast the seeds even a bit longer.
The salad was handsome even though I didn't follow Rodgers' plating instructions.
And I am definitely an admirer of the simplicity of the concept behind this salad -- only three elements.
Tried this salad again for dinner with my husband -- made a tomato (rather than champagne) vinaigrette with coriander instead. It was better but not quite there. I think a bit of mustard to tang up the dressing?
(edited 15th October 2011) (0) comment (2) useful
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