First I'd like to correct an error from the last Loops Bar post. Hubs graciously named the treat after me but forgot the apostrophe. Oi vey, the apostrophe. That itzy bitzy squiggle that traverses the abyss between noun and possessive pronoun. And since America is the land of the free and home of possessive pronouns, the Loops Bars should have been Loops's Bars. Because they are mine and I love them.
But anyway back to the post at hand: Loopçoise is my (Loops) take on a Niçoise. You know that questionable ubiquitous menu item that you should never ever order? (unless you're eating at Kadosh, in that case you always must order). I'm sure the makers were well intended and granted there are some exceptional executions of the dish (ahem...Kadosh) but overall its usually a sad looking salad with cold potatios, seen-better-days-maybe I-am-maybe-I-ain't-Tuna, hard boiled egg, disturbing amount of leaves that have no place there to begin with, blanched green beans from yesterday thrown in cold from the fridge, some sheriz* and suspicious looking "Niçoise" olives.
* Sheriz = Cherry tomatoes
Sooo, if you think about it, it was just a matter of time before those dreary bits got an Asian fusion pick-me-up and that Asian fusionist just happened to be me. And since I'm studying Pride this days, I admit I was rather proud of the result.
I basically substituted each salad constituent with an Asian counterpart in the following manner:
- Gloomy Green beans -> vibrant slightly blanched ones, tossed in a little of the "vinaigrette" beforehand.
- Suspicious "Tuna" -> Crispy (Panko coated) Salmon bites (yes. Salmon schnitzelonim)
- Boiled potatioes (which Hubs is quiet adamant about being against)-> Baked Soy-honey glazed sweet potato wedges. However subbing the yellow potatios with the orange sweet ones created a color issue, so to reintroduce yellow (and protein) I put crispy pan seared tofu.
- Hard boiled eggs -> quail eggs
- And the useless pile of greens morphed into a small heap of wasabi micro-greens (eat that Shuk Levinski:-)
- Over everything I poured an Asian "vinaigrette": soy, mirin, rice vinegar and maybe a touch of Tariyaki that I had lying around.
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| Mise en place |
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| Pretty |
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| Assembly 1 |
The preparation is pretty simple but requires some multitasking to have everything ready to assemble. This is the order I did it in that made sense to me, starting from most time to least:
- Put a small pot with water and salt on the stove (for green beans), and another one for the quail eggs (you can already put the eggs in, they'll just need a few minutes in the boiling water)
- Take a block of firm tofu and put a weight on it to drain out liquid (till you're ready to cook em)
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| Assembly 2 |
- Peel and cut sweet potatoes into wedges. Drizzle a bit of soy sauce and honey (and ginger if u want) and toss just to coat and stick in a 200C (400F) oven. They'll be ready by the time you finish the rest.
- Skin the salmon and cut into bite size (yet biggish) pieces.
- Organize a plate with cornflour for the tofu.
- Organize 3 plates for the salmon breading - one with flour, one with egg and one with panko (you can add ingredients of your choice to any of these mixtures (e.g. soy in the egg, salt & pepper in the flour, sesame in the panko...)
- Put green beans in already boiling water for a few minutes till still firm, drain and stop cooking in cold water. drain and cut into bite size pieces.
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| Assembly 3 |
- Make vinaigrette, pretty much to taste - soy, mirin sesame oil, rice vinegar...you can add chili oil, ginger, garlic....I don't think you can really go wrong here. I spooned a bit of this on the green beans so they soak some flavor in the meantime.
- Peel and halve cooked quail eggs.
- Take sweet potatoes out (if ready), combine with the green beans and you can already plate those if that's how you roll)
- Now for the action: heat a large skillet with regular oil and a bit of sesame oil, while its heating prepare the tofu - cut into slices and cover in cornflour (shake off access) and put in the pan. Simultaneously (we did this together and in one pan) triple dip the salmon (flour->egg-> panko) and put in the pan as well (or in a separate one, depending on how much you're doing).
- Pan fry till ready. The tofu till it has a nice crispy layer, but keep a better watch over the salmon so not to dry it. Remove from pan onto paper towels.
- Pile whatever is ready onto the green-been sweet potato bed, dot with the halved quail eggs, drizzle the vinaigrette over everything and pile some wasabi-micro greens on top.
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