Fast Train to California Salad

I wrote this piece probably three or four years ago, while I was still living in Chicago, dating my ex and working my old job. It somehow popped up in a list of files saved off my old laptop and I couldn't resist reviving it (I never posted it on my old blog). I couldn't tell you which apartment I was living in or remember the exact meal, but it reminds me of a sweet moment in those dark, unhappy days. 

Recreating a dish I’ve had at a favorite restaurant can go only two ways: fantastic or disastrous. The second often ends in a pile of dirty pots and pans, empty take-out containers and a horrendous hangover the next morning, after an attempt at drinking my frustration away.

But if I get it right- the flavors meld instead of collide, textures compliment instead of combat- my entire evening mellows and I bask in the glory of a job well done. This salad came about as a result of a fantastic meal at UnCommon Ground. If you’re in Chicago, this is a must visit restaurant. Local food, seasonal flavors, spot-on cooking. I’ve eaten through a good part of the intentionally small menu. I’ve never, however, had a salad there. Steak and pork loin and handmade pasta always tempt me away. But finding myself less ravenous than usual, I couldn’t resist their winter salad- baby arugula dressed with pecans, goat cheese, cranberries and a blood orange vinaigrette. Blood orange! I love any citrus fruit, especially the unusual flavors. My palette bends towards that sweet-sour tang. A heaping plate of dark green arugula studded with crimson cranberries and blood orange segments arrived at my plate and I proceeded to eat every. single. bite. I managed to refrain from licking my plate, as I go to UnCommon Ground fairly often and don’t want to get a reputation.

I then thought about this salad all day Thursday at work. I twittered about the salad. I researched blood orange vinaigrette recipes. I thought about how magnificent blood oranges are. I looked at flights to California. I invited my California born and bred best friend over for dinner, since she’s an overworked graduate student who I’m endlessly trying to feed. I thought to myself “I doubt there will be blood oranges at the Jewel. If I had time to get to the Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s, I could get some, but not the Jewel. Stupid sucky Jewel produce section. Do Not Wish For The Blood Oranges.” So you can imagine the squealing that took place when, lo and behold, my Jewel had a display of deep, deep orange Moro blood oranges! I looked around me – I wanted to shout- “they have the oranges! Do you see? Do you see the oranges??” I grabbed two good-looking ones, a bag of baby arugula and hoofed it home to attempt recreating my meal from the night before.

Success. As we ate every. last. bite. of that recreated winter salad, we imagined that perhaps we were in Santa Barbara and tossed around ideas of leaving our boyfriends and opening up a yarn/wine store somewhere on the coast. (NB: I well remember this dream. We were going to call it the Redhead Asian Girl Winery. Happily for both of us, she married her boyfriend and I left mine for greener fields.) My friend was relocated to the frozen landscape of Chicago against her will, and desperately misses the California sunshine and its citrus. This salad is named for her, a small bit of brightness in the middle of winter.

Fast Train to California Salad
Inspired by UnCommon Ground, Chicago

Baby Arugula
Cranberries
OJ
Pecans
Crumbled Goat Cheese
2 blood oranges
Raspberry balsamic vinegar (or regular)
Olive oil

Toast your pecans. Plump up fresh, frozen or dried cranberries in a little orange juice, until they get juicy enough to eat. Segment 1 blood orange, squeeze the juice of the other. This is a good exercise in tasting as you go- start with the juice, add a little of the vinegar. I found it needed more citrus, so I threw in a splash of orange juice. Whisk in a little olive oil, continuing to taste. You could also use a much more proper vinaigrette recipe, this worked for us. Toss all the ingredients together and serve. We ate it alongside some spinach ravioli slicked in olive oil and parmesan, with a little California white table wine.