I had mushrooms and spinach in the fridge and I was in need of a salad. As usual, I perused the Web for a few recipe ideas. The sad truth is that many recipes one finds on the Web (and in books) are not too bright. They call for silly ingredients like canned spinach and their timings can be ridiculous.
For that and other reasons I use most recipes as basic guides and then apply my own kitchen sense. But every now and then I see something that just makes me drop my head with a thump onto the cutting board.
Today, for example, I used this recipe as a basic guide for a zingy spinach and mushroom salad. If you’re bored enough to compare it with my final recipe (below) you’ll see that I kept the basic theme but applied my own special touch. The head-thumper in this recipe, however, was the call for “3/4 teaspoon of minced fresh parsley.”
Uh.. excuse me? Three-quarters of a teaspoon? What would happen if I used a whole teaspoon?
For Pete’s sake, anybody who really cooks knows that “a teaspoon” means “a bit” and a tablespoon means “a bit more.” Unless you are baking, the quantities are open to interpretation. You use the measurements to get a sense of relative proportions. Of course, you might want to be careful with some pungent herbs like sage and thyme. But parsley? Sweet, benign parsley?
Why would anyone be so precise as to specify three-quarters of a teaspoon of parsley in a recipe that is scaled to serve six? If you upped that to two cups of parsley it would only make it better. Parsley, like basil, is one of those things that you simply can’t have too much of.
In the end, I modified the recipe as follows:
Blork’s Spinach-Mushroom Salad
- 3 big glugs of olive oil
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- Juice of 1/2 a lime
- 2 squirts of cider vinegar
- 1 clove of garlic, smashed and minced
- As much chopped fresh parsley as you like
- Sprinkle of salt
- Pinch of dry (ground) mustard
- Pinch of dry oregano
- Pinch of dry basil
- Pinch of dry sage
- As many scratches of freshly ground black pepper as you like
- Generous handful of thickly sliced mushrooms (about 7 or 8 )
- Half a sliced red pepper (or the whole thing if you feel saucy)
- Half a bag of that pricey baby spinach
In a small bowl, whisk together the first 12 ingredients (in blue).
Quickly sauté the mushrooms in a bit of olive oil. Set aside to cool.
Dump the mushrooms into the vinaigrette and stick it in the fridge for 20 or 30 minutes.
Have a beer, and/or go about the preparations for the rest of your meal.
In a big bowl, toss the spinach, red pepper, and vinaigrette together.
Eat. (Serves four civilized people or two hungry folks.)