Anchovy Vinaigrette Recipe

I had an opened jar of anchovies in the refrigerator from the photoshoot I did for my upcoming cookbook (Haute Potato, out this December). Since I'm the only one in our home who likes the oily, salted fish, I came up with a simple way of putting it to good use. I found the anchovies to be a bit too salty to my taste, so I ran them under cold water, then ground them into a paste. The flavor-packed mixture became the base of a salad dressing. The rest is really as it pleases you; I added a bit of horseradish mustard for a little heat, fruity extra-virgin olive oil and Champagne pear vinegar for a touch of decadence.   

The salad was composed very simply of hard-cooked eggs, tomatoes, pine nuts and butter lettuce. Voilà! 

Tomato Crostini with Anchoiade

After Mike from New West KnifeWorks sent me their 9-inch Chef Fusionwood knife, I went on a crazy chopping spree. Just like many of their knives, which are, by the way, all manufactured here in the US, this Chef knife is pretty nifty. I chopped a tomato medley (Heirloom peach tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, sweet 100 and San Marzano tomatoes) with a few grapes from our garden. With the razor-sharp blade, I was able to comfortably cut all the fruits. I quickly sautéed them in garlic with roasted green bell peppers and sweet peppers that my husband Lulu planted several months ago. I used the mixture as a topping for crostini and finished them with Manzanilla green olives wrapped in anchovies. 

New West KnifeWorks is giving away a block set of 7-piece Fusionwood knives (a $995 value!) and you have a chance to win. Sign up for the contest through August 13^th to win one of the 7-piece block sets on Facebook and Twitter. You can also register on New West KnifeWorks' microsite. Good luck!

Olive Tapenade Chicken Rolls

Olive tapenade is extremely versatile and can be used as a spread or filling in many different dishes. You can also use it in place of more traditional party dips such as hummus, guacamole, salsa or roasted bell pepper spread. In this recipe, I added goat cheese to the tapenade and used the mixture as a filling for chicken rolls. I served the dish with a mildly sweet carrot purée that makes an excellent foil to the savory flavor of the tapenade.

If it's not part of your culinary repertoire yet, you should definitely learn to prepare tapenade. It will open up a whole new world of easy to prepare, delectable dishes.

Salad Nicoise

If you're ever fortunate enough to go to Paris, you are bound to walk by many sidewalk cafés, brasseries, bistros and the like. As ubiquitous are the chalkboards that guard the entrances to these eateries, calling out the specials of the day. On almost all of them, you will find salade niçoise.

This is not the tuna salad that one traditionally finds in America, slathered in mayonnaise and sweet pickles. Salade niçoise hails from the Côte d'Azur; region of France, and is named after the city of Nice. It is a combination of tomatoes, potatoes, green beans, eggs and canned tuna packed in oil. It is typically topped with anchovies and Dijon vinaigrette.   Like many French dishes, the name may evoke visions of elegance and glamour, but in reality the dish is the result of the vegetables and proteins available in that region of France. Put another way, it's really just a fancy way of describing a tossed salad from Nice.

I personally love this dish, because it is easy to make and perfectly captures the flavors of  the Mediterranean. It won't replace the traditional American-style tuna salad, but instead provide you with a healthier alternative.