The sisters’ salads this week reminded me of a salad concept that I’ve never had an opportunity to share before. Back in my kiruv days, food was a popular topic of conversation with my students. They knew I was a food editor, so food became a neutral territory we were all able to raise our voices passionately about.

Once, I made up to meet a student in a common area that had a trendy salad place o­ to the side. I found her just as she was placing her salad order, so I put on my food editor hat for a minute and observed. She told me that this place was known for the way they chopped and tossed the salad after you finished requesting all your salad ingredients and toppings.

“Just watch,” she said. I watched as the guy behind the counter dumped all of my student’s salad components onto a massive cutting board and, using a sharp bench scraper in each hand, chopped the salad the way I would chop herbs. The pieces were cut into a uniform size just slightly larger than your typical Israeli salad size. The point of all this chopping, aside from making it really easy to eat, is to get all the flavors into all the bites.

I don’t know why I didn’t go home and chop a salad like that for myself that very night, but it’s been my Shalosh Seudos salad every single week this summer, and we all love it. It’s the same ingredients and the same kind of dressing I’ve always used, but with one small sizing change the salad is a whole new animal. Think about it. Sometimes all we need to do is change one little thing in any given circumstance, and the whole picture is entirely di­fferent.

Chanie Nayman
Food Editor

Ground Rules for Ground Beef

While steaks and roasts can be left to come to room temp for up to two hours, ground beef cannot. Because all of the meat has been exposed to air and possible pathogens, you don’t want to take chances. Smell test isn’t enough — pay attention to the sell-by dates, follow food safety guidelines, and throw it away if it feels slimy or sticky.

For Anyone Who Can Handle a Non-Recipe

Here’s one I made for Shabbos that was truly delicious. I cleaned and roughly chopped shallots and baby bella mushrooms, then roasted them in the oven with a drizzle of olive oil and kosher salt.

When done, I added some defrosted cauliflower and stuffed the mixture into deboned and deskinned chicken thighs. I drizzled the chicken with honey and soy sauce, then baked it for about an hour at 375°F, and true to my word from last week, I drizzled it with more soy and honey as soon as it came out of the oven.

When making a fruit pie with fruits that give o­ff a lot of liquid, like plums or pears, you’ll need to create plenty of air pockets in your top dough to let the steam escape. Lattice is a great solution to this!

(Originally featured in Family Table, Issue 704)