An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace

by Tamar Adler

A vibrant vegetable salad 2 cups cooked vegetables 1/4 cup chopped almonds or walnuts 1/4 onion of any color or a shallot, thinly sliced into half-moons red wine vinegar a pinch of salt 1/2 teaspoon mustard olive oil 1/4 cup roughly chopped parsley or mint 1/4 cup roughly chopped turnip greens or radish tops or another peppery-tasting leaf a squeeze of lemon Let the vegetables come to room temperature. Remove them from the refrigerator when you get home from work so they can warm up slowly, or speed them up by putting a bowl of them near a lit burner or on a warm oven. If you didn’t toast nuts during the week’s cooking, toast them now in a 400-degree oven, checking them after 5 minutes, then periodically until they are lightly colored. Shake them off their tray. In a bowl big enough to hold all the vegetables, soak the onion in vinegar with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes. Add the mustard to the bowl and mix it in. Let it sit for another 2. Add the vegetables, toasted nuts, and a long drizzle of olive oil, then the herbs, greens, and squeeze of lemon. It should all taste refreshed.