Equal Parts

A few Fridays ago Jeff and I headed up north to Traverse City to relax, drink wine [Exhibits A, B, and C], and go snowshoeing. The forecast was snowy, a positive if you plan to snowshoe, a negative if the drive to your destination takes over four hours. The cold, windy, slippery, white drive into town put our arrival past 8:00pm. Add to that the fact that we needed to walk on the hotel treadmills after such a drive, and we were finally ready to get dinner right at the time when restaurants were closing. Bars, however, were open, which is how we came to order carryout from Mackinaw Brewing Company, and ate at the small table in our hotel room overlooking Grand Traverse Bay.

I ordered a Grilled Asian Chicken Salad, for no reason other than I wanted to keep this late-night dinner light. I certainly wasn’t looking for a dish to transport me back to my teenage years. But the combination of romaine, a simply grilled chicken breast, crunchy rice noodles, and mandarin oranges did just that. Suddenly I was fourteen, at Max and Erma’s restaurant, and about to head to a showing of 10 Things I Hate About You. This salad tastes like a throwback, and I wanted it again in my present day. I resolved to make a version for my work lunches the following week, and I would start with my favorite carrot ginger dressing.

When I started dating Jeff I also started to eat a lot more sushi. I love to start a meal with a salad, so the beginning of our relationship also marked my introduction to the simple salad with carrot ginger dressing served at many Asian restaurants. I learned I really love a carrot ginger dressing and so have been regularly making Gwyneth Paltrow’s version over the last few years. The recipe is perfect as written, but I make substitutes with what I have on hand. No shallot, I add garlic or onion or scallion. No miso, I just leave it out and maybe add more carrots and less water. No grapeseed oil, I add sunflower oil. It’s about flavor, not authenticity, and since according to lore on the internet Asian Chicken Salad is decidedly American in base, it’s ok to do what you want here.

I managed to find the time and energy to grocery shop the day after vacation and quickly mix up the dressing, but I stopped short of actually assembling a packable lunch. Regret hit me at 6:31 the following morning when I realized I would have to do a dreadful midday lunch pickup unless I quickly got my act together. Who brings unwashed, uncut kale to work with them? Just me? I threw a bunch into my extra-large lunch box. I also cut a breast off of a store-bought rotisserie chicken at 6:32am, opened and drained a can of mandarin oranges at 6:33am, packed both in separate containers and added them to the bag with the kale, the dressing, and a package of crispy rice noodles direct from the “international” aisle at my local Kroger. When lunch time rolled around I assembled it all in the stainless steel bowl that lives in my bottom desk drawer. And that’s how you turn regret into success.

CARROT GINGER DRESSING inspired by Gwyneth Paltrow

Add 1 large carrot (peeled and roughly chopped), 1 large shallot (peeled and chopped), 2 tbsp roughly chopped ginger, 1 tbsp white miso, 2 tbsb rice vinegar, 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil, 1/4 cup grapeseed oil, and about 2 tbsp water to a food processor. Blend until smooth.