Once upon a time, I was home visiting Mom and Dad during the hot (and extremely muggy) summer months. And the idea of a salad supper was tossed out, which I absolutely leapt on.
I always like salads in warm weather (or when I am longing for warm weather), and my dad is always on board as long as there is enough variety and enough protein involved. Salade nicoise? Yes, please. A bed of romaine with a sad grilled chicken breast sliced and sprinkled on it? Not so much.
We decided that all three of us would contribute a salad. Mom wanted to make salad rolls…I had an abstract-but-decidedly-Asian idea in my head…and Dad decided to make a Chinese salad out of their tried-and-true Time Life Foods of the World cookbooks. So somehow…Salad Supper became Iron Chef: Salad.
Mom made her salad rolls loosely based on a Thai street food cookbook I had given Dad ages ago. They were lovely. But in this story, Mom is the Chairman – picture her taking a big bite out of a bell pepper, because she just loves to eat good food. She doesn’t get competitive.
Dad and I do.
Dad’s salad was delicious. But it involved some tiny bay scallops, soy sauce, and some snow peas. And it wound up very…small. And…brown.
Meanwhile, I presented a giant bowl, filled with shredded cabbage, mint, thai basil, cilantro, crispy fried shallot, shrimp, squid, shredded pork skin, and dressed with nuoc cham (fish sauce, lime juice, thai chiles, a little sugar). Some toasted peanuts sprinkled on top.
I swear I actually saw my dad’s ego shrink before me.
I was clearly craving something. This had required not one, but TWO trips to the only Asian market in town (20 minutes away). The second trip was because I had asked Dad before the first trip if there was fish sauce in the house, and he said yes, but was wrong. Was this an honest mistake, or the work of a saboteur? Hard to say, but the fish sauce was so integral to the dish that I went out again for it. I was OUT. OF CONTROL.
This basic formula has served me excruciatingly well ever since. Living in Toronto changed me for life, and one of those changes was heavy exposure to Vietnamese food. The hot/sour/salty/sweet balance that is integral to both Viet and Thai food, mixed with the heavy herb use in Viet cooking is like catnip to me. Any crisp, green vegetable matter (cabbage, cucumbers, lettuce, etc) dressed in nuoc cham and a generous handful of herbs makes me inexplicably happy. And crispy fried shallot is better than any damn crouton. And…let’s face it…that much fresh veggie studded with bright green bits of herb and red chile…it just looks really damn pretty.
So all I ask of you, dear reader, is that you do yourself the favor of trying this sometime. There is so much flavor going on that you won’t even notice that your meal is almost fat-free. Put anything on or next to it – shellfish, seared tuna, rare steak. I just ask that you don’t overseason or overcook whatever it is. Tonight it was seared tuna over cucumber salad…and it was ridiculously amazing. Spring Break on a plate, even though it never broke 40 degrees today.
Oh, and by the way, according to the Chairman, I won.
