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Last year, this was the best salad. This year, some of the same elements remain, but have been reworked into the Best Salad of 2013. Unless I come up with something better. And then that’ll be the new best. I make up the rules, so…

I visited one of my best friends in Philadelphia this weekend. She wanted to make a salad using precooked lentils from Trader Joe’s, but needed some ideas. I offered to make this super easy, fresh salad that took no time to put together.

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1 package precooked lentils, or about 2 cups cooked French green lentils
1 hothouse cucumber, julienne
1 small bunch mint, roughly chopped
5 oz feta cheese, medium dice
Seeds from 1/2 pomegranate
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

1. Add all ingredients to a large bowl and gently stir to combine.

raw cauliflower, parsley and pita saladThese are notes for future me. Do not make this, or you will hate me forever.

Tofu dressing: silken tofu, garlic, lemon juice, anchovy paste, salt, pepper. Maybe needs olive oil. Needs something. Something to make it, well, delicious.

Salad: break raw cauliflower into large florets and slice thinly, toss with lots of roughly chopped parsley and the tofu dressing. Marinate over night.

Finish: toss with broken pita chips (I used homemade whole wheat pita chips baked with olive oil, salt and pepper).

photo(7)Well, kind of. Because I was lazy and not in the mood to, well, F#$% something up, I didn’t invert the thing on a plate and return it to the pan. I instead finished it in the oven, just like I would a frittata. No one knew the difference, and it was The Bomb (I just went there) either way.

Serves 4 (goes especially well after a citrus and avocado salad)

1 cup olive oil
2 russet potatoes
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 small onion, medium dice
Salt and pepper
1 large garlic clove, minced
8 eggs

1. Preheat the broiler.
2. Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium-low heat.
3. Peel and slice the potatoes 1/4-inch thick and add them to the pot of oil.
4. Cook the potatoes gently until lightly browned and cooked through, about 20 minutes.
5. In a medium pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and add the onion, stirring occasionally and taking care not to develop too much color. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes, or until translucent.
6. While the onions are cooking, whisk the eggs with salt and pepper.
7. Add the garlic to the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for about 1 minute.
8. Remove the potatoes from the pot with a slotted spoon, draining off the oil, and add to the onion garlic mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
9. Pour the eggs over the potatoes and let them cook for about a minute without stirring.
10. Then, stir the mixture, folding the bottom, cooked part on top of the raw part.
11. Continue to stir this way until the mixture appears to be setting. The idea is to stir it frequently enough to promote even cooking, but not to over-stir (we’re not looking for an egg scramble–we want the mixture to stay together).
12. Finish cooking the top of the tortilla espanola in the broiler.
13. Remove, allow to sit for 5 minutes, and cut into slices.

It’s only during the past few years that I’ve developed an affinity for bitterness. Now it’s a taste that I crave, namely in the form of alcohol–IPAs, Campari and sodas, Negronis–but also in grapefruit. Since winter is the time for citrus, I suppose I’m pushing it by posting this during the first days of spring. But, what the hell:

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Serves 4, as a starter for brunch (serves 2 as a main course for breakfast)

2 grapefruits
2 oranges
1 small jicama
3 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
1 lime
Pinch salt
Pinch sugar (a drizzle of agave also works very nicely here)
1 avocado

1. Supreme 1 of the grapefruits and 1 of the oranges: cut off the tops and bottoms of the fruit. Cut off the skin, making sure to remove all of the white. Cut in between the membrane to create “wedges” of fruit.
2. Slice the remaining grapefruit and orange: cut off the tops and bottoms of the fruit. Cut off the skin, making sure to remove all of the white. Cut the fruit into slices.
3. Julienne the jicama: peel, thinly slice, and cut into matchsticks.
4. Gently toss the citrus fruits with the jicama, juice of 1/2 a lime, salt and sugar.
5. Slice the avocado: Cut into quarters, remove the pit, peel away the skin and slice into 1/4-inch pieces. Squeeze juice of the other 1/2 of the lime over the slices to prevent browning.
6. Serve the avocado slices on the side. You can arrange the slices on the top of the salad, which would make for a beautiful presentation, but I like the bit of interaction your guests have by finishing their own plates.

1 medium or 2 small garlic cloves
1 bag frozen, shelled edamame, thawed, small handful reserved
2 tsp tahini
1 tsp cumin
kosher salt and black pepper, to taste
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil, for garnish
Black pepper, for garnish

1. In a food processor, pulse garlic until it is broken down into bits.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and whirl, adding water as necessary to achieve desired consistency, until smooth.
3. Spoon into a bowl and garnish with reserved edamame, a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and a healthy crack of freshly ground black pepper.