A full day of snapping pictures, shooting video and taking in the exhibits at the Philadelphia Flower Show didn’t allow us time to stop for lunch so a “prevening” meal was in order. We headed across the street from the Pennsylvania Convention Center to refuel at the Reading Terminal Market. A descendant of the open air markets that have been in operation in the same general locale since the 1600’s, it is the nation’s oldest continuously operating farmers’ market. A vast array of food choices ranging from Pennsylvania Dutch to Thai to Mexican await hungry visitors. But there’s not just food, the market offers quilts, homemade crafts, fresh flowers and cookbooks.
We did a quick browse of the many vendors and found a place to rest our weary bones, Molly Malloy’s, a restaurant and bar. They offer 24 beers on tap and when possible, locally sourced produce, courtesy of Molly Malloy’s sons, Jimmie and Vinny, the Iovine brothers. They also operate Iovine Brothers Urban Produce Market in the Reading Terminal Market. We settled in and perused the menu. Starters of butternut squash soup, crispy calamari and carmelized onion and goat cheese flatbread hit the spot. Joe chose the green apple salad and I chose the market salad.
Appropriate for winter with it’s heartier greens, the salad featured kale, radicchio, romaine and shaved brussels sprouts. A tangy mustard seed vinaigrette and some parmesan bacon crisps tied the salad together nicely. Not wanting to get into a salad “rut” I decided to recreate this at home.
I began by tearing the romaine and the radicchio into bite sized pieces. I used a sharp knife to cut the kale into thin strips. If you have a choice, the Lacinato kale works better because the straighter crinkled leaves are much easier to cut into strips. Shave the brussels sprouts as thinly as possible. You could use a mandoline, but that might be a bit risky if you forget to use the guard. Not that I know anyone who would do that. I trimmed the root ends of the sprouts and sliced them with the 2mm blade on the food processor. You could also cut them in half with a knife, turn them cut side down and thinly slice from root to top. Gently tease apart the layers of the sprouts into distinct shreds The serrano honey vinegar I used in my tangy mustard seed dressing came from another terminal market vendor, The Tubby Olive. I love visiting their store in Newtown, since then they have opened locations in Doylestown and most recently at the Reading Terminal Market.
A crispy salty component comes from the addition of the parmesan crisps. Known as frico in Italy, it is a wafer of shredded cheese, baked until golden. I sprinkled a little crispy bacon over the frico in the last few minutes of cooking.
The most important rule for all tossed salads is the bowl you are tossing in needs to be large enough to hold the ingredients comfortably. Add the dressing a little at a time to coat, not drown your salad. Tongs or very clean hands do the best job of coating the greens. A half of a lonely avocado was a last minute addition to my salad. Though not part of the original recipe I think it worked in quite nicely.
Winter Market Salad
Serves four
Mustard Seed Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- 3T Serrano honey vinegar or 3T apple cider vinegar plus 1t honey and a pinch of chili powder
- 2t Dijon mustard
- 8T extra virgin olive oil
- 2t yellow mustard seeds
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Mix vinegar and mustard in a small bowl; slowly whisk in oil. Add mustard seeds. Season dressing with salt and pepper.
Parmesan Bacon Crisps
Ingredients
- 4 ounces Parmesan cheese
- 2 slices of bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Grate 2 ounces of the Parmesan using the side of the box grater that finely grinds the cheese and then grate 2 ounces of the Parmesan using the side of the box grater that makes long shreds of cheese, and then mix them together.
- Drop rounded tablespoons of the grated Parmesan on the parchment paper to make neat mounds. Bake in the oven for 4 minutes then sprinkle bacon over the crisps, bake an additional 2-3 minutes or until golden.
- Cool slightly and loosen with a metal spatula.
Salad Assembly
Ingredients
- 1 small head of romaine lettuce
- 1 small head radicchio
- 4 leaves of Lacinato kale
- 12 Brussels sprouts
- Mustard seed vinaigrette
- Parmesan bacon crisps
Directions
- Wash romaine and radicchio leaves and tear into 1 inch pieces. Spin dry in a salad spinner
- Wash the kale leaves and cut the leaves away from the stems. Cut the leaves into 1/2″ ribbons
- Trim the bottoms of the Brussels sprouts, slice in half lengthwise and either slice in a food processor with a 2mm blade or slice thinly with a sharp knife from root to top. Gently tease apart the layers into distinct shreds.
- Add romaine and radicchio to a large bowl. Top with kale strips and shredded Brussels sprouts.
- Toss salad with the mustard seed vinaigrette. Serve parmesan bacon crisps on the side. Season salad with additional fresh ground pepper.
