I watched an episode of Patti’s Mexican Table late last night. Among the things that she prepared was a salad.
As you most likely know, a good salad is a cacophony of textural and gustatory elements. It often combines creamy, crunchy, and maybe chewy textures with sweet, sour, peppery and other tastes. A good salad needn’t have all of these elements, but I myself prefer a mélange that includes most of them.
Patti made her salad using watercress, chopped scallions, diced avocado, toasted pecans, and a homemade spicy salsa. It looked mouth-wateringly delicious. I went to the grocery store today in search of the essential ingredients. I couldn’t find watercress and decided to substitute arugula for its peppery punch. I decided to get a couple of fresh figs for sweet chewiness. I already had an avocado, and I bought a couple of bunches of scallions. In the fridge, I already had lime cilantro salsa. Somehow, I forgot the toasted pecans despite the fact that I have them in the pantry. Memory loss of old age is terrible. Alas!
The meal was my riff on Patti’s-inspired salad, and a grilled boneless ribeye with a fire roasted Shishito pepper. Becky, our hostess at the Casitas de Gila, where we go to do astrophotography, introduced us to shishitos a couple of visits ago. She and her husband have a garden, and on that particular visit, she had more shishito peppers than she could use. She gave us a bag of them, and I used them with our grilled meals during our stay. Shishito peppers are flavorful, mild, and a nice addition to savory dishes like grilled meats.
Here is the dinner inspired by Patti’s show last night.
