I saw the salad on the website as I was reviewing what would be available for lunch that day. I go back and forth between knowing exactly what I want and being the most indecisive person at the table, so I browse menus ahead. You get it.
I immediately found what I’d call a fall-inspired salad. Apples and candied nuts - pretty common. But roasted fennel and pickled red onions - not so common. I ordered it, I ate it. And the entire time I was thinking about how I could re-create it.
Exactly 24 hours before this, I was sitting at lunch with my friend, Karista, talking about how I was done with recipe development. Could I be ready to move on?
The truth is, I’ve been trying to get away from recipe development for about three, wow, maybe it’s actually been five, years now. By away from it, I simply mean not doing it as a core part of my work.
It was beginning to happen naturally for a while. More of my clients were hiring me to style and photograph previously developed recipes than including development in the project.
I’m not sure why I was trying to get away from it. It is much easier to be the recipe developer AND the stylist-photographer for food than only the stylist-photographer. I can’t tell you how many ugly, sometimes failed recipes, I’ve had to make for clients that require actual real magic to style and photograph. (Restaurant chefs, I love you, you make amazing food and your talents abound, but there are only a handful of you who can write a recipe that proves successful in a home kitchen.)
On the other hand, when I develop a recipe, I can ground it in beauty from the very start. I won’t ever come up with an idea to make something that I know will be difficult to photograph. It actually makes the photography easier; I know it will turn out during prep and I know I’ve used ingredients that will be photogenic.
But I think maybe I’ve just grown bored of it. It’s one recipe in a sea, a massive world-wide sea, of other recipes. And it’s a lot of work. The testing, the failures, the redoing.
So anyway, I was trying to start my trek out of that world and then last summer I went and pitched a cookbook proposal that was picked up. So I’ve spent the last 10 months developing about 95 recipes. There were moments I enjoyed it. It was much easier than my past two books where the single theme of craft beer required I use it in all the recipes. But I’m also glad it’s done. Almost. The California Farm Table Cookbook will publish summer 2024. More about what I really enjoyed the most writing that book later.
When I sat down to eat that salad, I thought - here we go again. People wonder where food writers get their ideas for recipes and mine come from exposure. I travel, I visit markets at home and abroad, I dine out. It’s rarely from the Internet. This exposure introduces me to ingredients and flavor combinations.
These wheels are inside my head; I can’t turn them off. Well, they combined X with Y on that menu, what if I turn it into Z from what I just saw at the farm stand? It turns, and turns, and turns.
Maybe there is a market for me to just sell recipe ideas. As long as I don’t have to be the one to actually make them anymore, I’m good with that.
It’s tough to stop something. Especially if occasionally other people think you are good at it.
Clearly, I haven’t figured out how to do that just yet. Because here’s that fall salad recipe. It’s inspired by the Apple Ale Salad from Deschutes Bend Public House.
You’ll need some pickled red onions for this. My favorite recipe for pickled onions is from the National Onion Association. I used Champagne vinegar instead of red wine vinegar this last time and it worked out nicely. I also cut the recipe in half with success.
For the cheese, I suggest choosing from one of three levels of funk: 1) blue cheese 2) feta 3) aged Parmesan. Also, I like my salads well-dressed. I want to taste the dressing because I think that it can sometimes be one of the most enjoyable parts of a salad. Use 4 cups of greens if you don’t enjoy a well-dressed salad.
Fall Salad with Maple Dressing
Serves 1, double or triple as you’d like
Ingredients
Salad
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 small bulb fennel, sliced
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper
3 to 4 cups salad mix, chopped (spring mix is my pick here)
1 scallion, finely chopped
1 small apple, cored and chopped
1/4 cup pickled red onions (more or less to your taste)
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
2 tablespoons chopped pecans (raw or roasted/salted, you pick)
2 tablespoons crumbled cheese
1 tablespoon roasted, salted pumpkin seeds
Dressing
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons Champagne vinegar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper
Preparation
Start the salad by cooking the fennel. Heat the 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high. Add the fennel and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until softened and browned in some spots. I like it to still have a little bite to it so 5 minutes is good for me. Stir in the pinch of salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and let it sit to cool.
Switch to the dressing. Pour the 1 tablespoon of olive oil, maple syrup, and vinegar into a large salad bowl (an individual salad bowl that you will eat out of). Add the salt and pepper. Whisk the ingredients with a fork until they come together in a smooth dressing, about 1 minute.
Add the mixed greens and the scallion to the salad bowl and toss them in the dressing. Next add the cooked fennel, apple, red onions, cranberries, pecans, cheese, and pumpkin seeds in any way or arrangement you choose and serve it to yourself.
Have you ever wanted to stop something and actually followed through with it? I’d love to hear about it.