Dessert Is Important, or What Have You Done For Those People--Right Over There--Lately?

“What’s for dessert?” I asked the teacher at the ethnic foods cooking class.

“We won’t be making dessert,” she said.  “I don’t care for it.”

* * *

Someone once asked Miss Manners what to do when people are rude, which were the best words to use?  Miss Manners wasn’t biting.  She said that actually, you shouldn’t say anything. The person who corrects another person is rude.

“But people need to know what they’re doing wrong!  They need to know what people are thinking!” said the person, wondering if perhaps Miss Manners had lost her touch.

Au contraire, said Miss Manners.  “You really don’t want to know what people are thinking.  Because many times they are thinking you are a fool.”

* * *

One of the tellers at the bank told me that this year she had given up Facebook, Twitter, and something else I’ve forgotten for Lent.  45 days.  I know how she feels.  I’m off chametz (wheat, oats, rye, barley, and spelt) for Passover.  I’ve been observing that aspect of the holiday for a few years now.  The first year, I said to a rabbi I know, “I’ve been thinking, ‘Well, I won’t really miss it, I don’t eat that much bread anyway.’  But then I thought, ‘Maybe you’re supposed to notice it.’”

She laughed.  “Good, Laynie,” she said.

* * * 

Somewhere I read that it’s a good idea to do a thing or two each day that you don’t want to do, just for exercise.  (For example, that cooking teacher—never mind.) 

So, right now, I'd like to go to bed.  But I promised Jason, who is also off chametz this week, that I would give him a salad recipe.  (Matzo has an interesting effect on the digestive tract.)  And I promised Beth, who gave me a ride home from a party even though it was absolutely not on her way, that I would give her this very recipe before blood orange season was over, and Cindy, who brought Meyer lemons from her own tree to my singing class, that I would give her a version of this recipe without blood oranges, which her partner hates. 

Do It Anyway, Honey, Salad (serves 2—maybe you and that cutie?)

For the salad:

A healthy handful of baby Swiss chard
   (or cut up regular Swiss chard into small pieces)
A purple mustard green or two, including the stem, which is just heaven
   —watery, like celery, but with a kick
Fennel top (usually called the “frond”—looks like dill)
One organic blood orange (unless you are Cindy, in which case, a navel)
One organic Meyer lemon

For the dressing:

2-3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon Amoretti pomegranate balsamic vinegar*, or a good aged balsamic
Smidgen of dijon mustard**
Pinch of your favorite salt (try the Himalayan one)
Freshly-ground black pepper (not too much; the mustard green takes that role here)

Rinse greens and fennel frond.  Mince the fennel frond, and slice the Meyer lemon very thinly—you don’t need to peel it—and remove the pits.  Peel the blood orange or navel as you would to section it, reserving the peel to dry later (for the item we’re not talking about this week but next week you can find by searching on the blog for “Laynie’s Morning Miracle.” Shhh.  Don't tell anyone.  Okay.). 

Put that smidgen of lemon zest and/or mustard in the bowl, followed by the olive oil and vinegar.  Add seasonings and whisk together, then add the greens, then the blood orange, minced fennel frond, and Meyer lemon.

You’re welcome.

And now I am going to bed.

*If you are off vinegar for Passover (“Pesach”), use fresh lemon juice and an extra blood orange.
** Dijon is made with wine, but if you want to be on the safe side, substitute lemon zest for mustard during Pesach.

©2013, 2014 Laynie Tzena.