Summer Pizza, Salad and Soup

Papa Al Pomodoro, is a very thick tomato and bread soup. We use the recipe from Italian Country Cook Book by Rogers / Gray. They have the fabulous River Café in London. This is almost a soup that you can eat with fork. In every respect you would think it should be a winter dish it is such a hearty soup, but it is best made with fresh tomatoes. I really recommend this dish! You can get it from our blog of: August 2, 2006. Click the date to get the recipe.

We made a Pizza that speaks of summer. We started with the frozen pizza shells by: Vicolo. They are a thick crust corn based shell. They are very good. We topped the pizza with Dolce Leche Gorgonzola Cheese, then a layer of Caramelized Red Onions, Sliced Figs and Hazelnuts. Not all pizza needs tomato sauce! The key to this pizza, like most cooking, was in the top quality ingredients. The cheese was from The Cheese Store of Silverlake. The figs from the Farmers Market and the Hazelnuts from Mozza2Go.

We also went retro. We first had a Shrimp Louie then with the left over Russian Dressing made a Iceberg Lettuce and Tomato Salad. We use Mark Peel’s recipe for both the Shrimp Louie and the Russian Dressing from New Classic Family Dinners. You can get the recipe from our blog of: July 4, 2010. Click the date to get the recipe. We purchased the Shrimp at McCall’s Meat and Fish.

Shrimp Louis [makes 4 servings]

New Classic Family Dinners by Mark Peel

Both Shrimp Louis and Crab Louis are West Coast classics. Crab Louis was the original, then people began making it with bay shrimp. I use medium shrimp, which I poach gently in a court bouillon, then split in half. The dish is a simple combination of shrimp dressed with Thousand Island Dressing or Russian Dressing, embellished with avocado, hard-cooked egg, and tomatoes and set on a bed of shredded lettuce.

[COURT BOUILLON]

1          tablespoon canola oil
½         cup chopped onion
1/3       cup chopped celery

¼            cup chopped fennel bulb (you can use the coarse outer layer for this)

            The green part of I small leek (optional)

2          fat garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

            A few sprigs parsley

1          bay leaf

1          chile

½         cup dry white wine

2          tablespoons white wine vinegar

2          cups water

1          teaspoon kosher salt

[SALAD]

16            medium shrimp, with shells on

1            Japanese cucumber, cut in half lengthwise, seeded, and cut on the diagonal in 1/4-inch-thick slices

¼            teaspoon kosher salt

¼            cup minced red onion, soaked in cold water for 5 minutes, drained, rinsed, and dried on paper towels

1            head Boston lettuce, outer leaves removed, inner leaves cut in chiffonade

¼            small head radicchio, cut in chiffonade

1            small or 1/2 large avocado, sliced

1            medium tomato, quartered, seeds and seed pods cut away, and sliced lengthwise in thin strips (about 1/8 inch thick)

2            extra-large eggs, hard-boiled (see below), quartered

            Fleur de Sel

2/3            cup Russian Dressing or Thousand Island Dressing

2            teaspoons minced chives

Make the court bouillon: Heat the canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the onion, celery, fennel, leek green, and garlic. Cook gently until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes, and add the parsley, bay leaf, chile pepper; wine, and vinegar Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, simmer 1 minute, and add the water and salt. Bring to a simmer and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool (you can do this quickly by setting the pot in an ice bath). Strain into a bowl, pressing the ingredients against the strainer Return to the pot.

Make the salad: Bring the court bouillon to a simmer and add the shrimp. Turn off the heat, coven and let cool in the court bouillon. Peel the shrimp and devein if necessary.

Toss the cucumber with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Let sit for 15 minutes, then rinse and dry on paper towels. Toss with the onion, the shredded inner leaves of the lettuce, and the radicchio. Add 2 tablespoons of the dressing and toss again.

Line a large platter with the whole lettuce leaves. Place the shredded lettuce mixture on top. Arrange half the avocado slices on one side, fanning them over the lettuce, and the other half on the other side. Arrange half the tomato slices and half the egg wedges on one side and the other half on the other side. Sprinkle with fleur de sel and drizzle with ¼ cup of the dressing. Toss the shrimp with the remaining dressing and arrange over the shredded lettuce. Sprinkle with the chives, and serve.

[NOTE] I like the eggs just under hard-boiled for this. Place in a saucepan and cover with cold water Bring to a rolling boil, cover and turn off the heat. Let stand 8 minutes, then drain and transfer to an ice bath.