The best salads I've had in my life were at Le Bec Fin in Philly & Mustard's in California. It's all about properly preparing the tender, fresh salad greens & 'old school' French vinaigrette.
Spring Salad
Spring is my favorite time to garden… after a long winter, it’s amazing to see rhubarb, asparagus, chives, parsley, pea shoots, ramps, mint & other plants literally pop out of the frozen ground. I love how tender & delicious fruits and vegetables are when fresh!
I grow a variety of lettuces in my garden, under cloches to protect the tender leaves from freezing so in the Spring there is a nice variety. There is also dandelion and purslane once Spring arrives.
I always have a good harvest of salad greens from the greenhouse from November until the Spring. I pick a variety of Spring lettuces to create different textures, flavors & color.
One of my favorite dressings is a simple, emulsified vinaigrette with honey, olive oil, mustard, lemon & herbs... these days I use a little mayonnaise instead of raw egg yolk for the emulsion.
Prep Time: 20 min
Cooking Time: 0 min
Yield: 4 portions
Ingredients Dressing
1 Tbsp Mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. Honey
1/2 Tbsp Grain Mustard
6 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice or Cider Vinegar
t.t. Kosher Salt
t.t. Black Pepper, freshly ground
Salad greens such as arugula, bibb, red leaf, oak etc... rinsed and spun dry
t.t. Kosher Salt
t.t. Black Pepper, freshly ground
How to Prepare the Salad
Step 1
Put the mayonnaise, honey and mustard in a bowl, slowly whisk the oil into the honey- mustard, creating an emulsion. Add the lemon and seasonings while continuing to whisk.
Step 2
Clean the lettuces, rinse/spin dry and place the lettuces and salad ingredients into a bowl, season with salt and pepper, add to the dressing and toss.
I agreed to be the Chef Advisor for the Gourmet Society at the CIA, an amazing honor to work with some of the best and brightest students. We planned to demonstrate preparing pesto with a mortar and pestle and also with a food processor-then evaluate them both side by side. We all suspected that the food processor would aerate the pesto, possibly the heat generated would be a problem- One student brought in a molcajete, the traditional mortar from Mexico, made from volcanic rock used for grinding spices, making salsas, moles, etc... I'm not sure this was the preferred mortar and pestle to use, these days I often use a marble mortar and pestle and make small batches. The 'mortar and pestle' pesto was much more delicious than the food processor version at the CIA that day.
I was born to sauté... I remember thinking this and smiling when I finally made my way up in the kitchen brigade to the Saucier spot. I loved the pulse of the kitchen, working the saute station with a dozen sauté pans on the flat top, delicious stocks and mother sauces held hot in the steam table and carefully prepared mise en place so I could make delicious meals for the customers... one order or two at the time. Everything was cooked with love and respect.
I remember my days working as chef/manager for food service cafeterias. People loved muffins for breakfast! We used dry muffin mixes or large tubs of various, premade muffin batters; scooped the batter into muffin tins and made dozens of mini, regular and large sizes daily. I love topping the muffins with garnishes like oats, chocolate chips, streusel, nuts etc... Morning Glory was my favorite, I bet I baked thousands of muffins in my five years at Gardner Merchant! I think my 'go to' muffin is a delicious, corn muffin grilled with butter on a plancha-New Jersey diner style!
I remember learning to make an emulsion sauce for called Rouille at Le Cirque. It's one of my favorites! Rouille is a delicious, classic French garlic mayonnaise served with bouillabaisse, a famous, French fish soup. I was taught to use EVOO, saffron, garlic etc... and cooked potato in the recipe. Other famous emulsion sauces include aioli, vinaigrettes, dressings, etc...
Biscotti translates to 'twice baked' and apparently was a popular snack for Roman soldiers since the biscotti lasted for days without getting stale. I read Christopher Columbus had biscotti stored away on his voyage to America... In Tuscany, biscotti and vin santo is considered by many to be a perfect pairing. I enjoyed this combination at a cafe in Florence years ago... I love dipping crunchy biscotti into a cup of strong black coffee.
Discover the secrets to earning a Michelin star in the U.S. from Certified Master Chef Tom Griffiths. Learn insider criteria, real examples, and expert tips to help elevate your restaurant’s culinary excellence.
The Classical French cooking segment during the CMC exam was extremely difficult for me! Although the format changes slightly from exam to exam, I was required to prepare C onsommé Florial; a baked, Dover Sole course and Roasted Lamb chops with pistachio forcemeat for 10 people-with appropriate sides and sauces. It was probably the hardest day of the 10 day exam for me. I sourced frozen peas (fresh peas were not in season) for the consommé and completely forgot to use them as garnish for my soup! I barely passed that day and managed to totally annoy one of the nicest CMC evaluators... never a smart thing to do! But I still love preparing and eating delicious consommé-great satisfaction when it comes out crystal clear.
I think my favorite cobbler was a recipe I developed with Chef Joshua Mackintosh for an ACF student chef competition. We used raspberries, blueberries, strawberries & dark chocolate chips for the filling. It was delicious. Josh came in second place... hmmm \I'm not sure I agreed with that evaluation! hahaha
How to build high performing teams that work hard, work together, and inspire each other to do great things. Insights from Certified Master Chef, Thomas Griffiths.
Whether you're running a kitchen or building a food brand from scratch, managing food costs isn't optional—it’s foundational. Get it wrong, and profitability slips through your fingers. Get it right, and you unlock the freedom to invest in what really matters: better ingredients, better equipment, better people.