We took a bit of a circuitous route out west for the
holidays. Flying across Canada is fiendishly expensive, so we ended up driving
down to Buffalo, flying to Seattle and taking the bus up to Vancouver. In
addition to saving us a couple hundred bucks, this journey had the added bonus
of enabling us to stop for breakfast at one of our favourite spots in Seattle:
Belltown fixture Le Pichet.
The first time I went to Le Pichet was when I was in Seattle
for a work trip in 2008. I was staying down the road at the Ace Hotel. The
coffee was delicious, the baguettes fresh and the décor and overall vibe wholly
Paris by the Puget Sound. The next time, I took D. and we’ve made a point of
stopping in, usually for breakfast (a croque-monsieur, perhaps, or just a pain
au chocolat), whenever we’re in town.
This time, we ate eggs with ham and gruyere and some wonderful
country style pork pâté, but the surprise highlight was a simple green salad with
a delicious, nutty vinaigrette. It was so good, we had to ask the waitress how
it was made and, to our delight, she suggested we check out the recipe on Le
Pichet owner Jim Drohman’s blog.
Now, at first blush, it looks like a bit of work, but now
that I’ve made it a couple of times, I think I’ve hit on a couple of shortcuts
that can save a bit of time without compromising the flavour. Once you get
those down, you’ll find it’s actually a versatile and adaptable recipe. For
example, the first time I made this, I subbed in walnuts for the hazelnuts,
which changed the flavour, but was no less delicious. Here’s the original recipe,
with annotations.
A Nutty Vinaigrette
1 cup orange juice
1 small shallot
1/2 cup sherry vinegar
1/3 cup organic Duchilly hazelnuts (for the vinaigrette)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
About 1 cup soy oil1
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 head organic Bibb lettuce
1/2 cup organic Duchilly hazelnuts (for garnish)
Heat the orange juice to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce
to 1/2 cup2. Cool. Toast the hazelnuts and cool. Peel and roughly
chop the shallot.
Put the reduced orange juice, shallot, sherry vinegar,
hazelnuts, and Dijon mustard in the blender3. Season with salt and
pepper. Blend at high speed until homogeneous.
With the blender running, add the oil slowly until
vinaigrette is the consistency of heavy cream. The actual amount of oil
required may be slightly more or less. Do not let the blender run too long, as
the vinaigrette will break if it gets too warm.
Taste the vinaigrette to adjust the seasoning. Add more salt
or pepper if needed. If the vinaigrette is too acidic, add more oil with the
blender running. If the vinaigrette gets too thick, thin with a bit of water.
Toss a little vinaigrette with lettuce, salt and ground
fresh pepper.
1 Any neutral oil such as canola or safflower
will work. I’ll also point out here that if you don’t have sherry vinegar, red
or white wine will work as well.
2 To save some time, substitute a tablespoon or
so of orange juice concentrate.
3 I used a food processor the second time I made
this, which produced a much more textured product. Not in a bad way at all, just
more crunchy than smooth. What I’m saying is, if you have a food processor or
decent hand blender, you’re fine.
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