“I ate them like salad, books were my sandwich for lunch, my tiffin and dinner and midnight munch.” -Ray Bradbury, American sci-fi master and one of my most favoritest authors of all time

I must admit something to you, dear readers.  I’ve been somewhat reluctant to share my holiday recipes with you.  Not because I don’t wanna play nice and share, but because I feel self-conscious about them, like somehow my pre-culinary school adventures are silly and meaningless compared to what I’ve learned in the meanwhile.  This isn’t true, of course, but I feel it’s sort of “one of those things” you go through in your head on the way to being an “actual chef” instead of just a random at-home nerd kind of chef.  (Which I’ll always be, no matter what culinary school does to me.)

I’ve made this salad every single year for the holidays since I’ve learned to cook.  I don’t really know how it happened, to be honest, but I just remember seeing wild arugula for the first time and thinking it looked almost just like holly leaves, and then suddenly pink peppercorns got involved to seal the deal.    There’s a lovely subtly sweet flavor from the apple, and a little bit of salty yum-yum from the freshly grated parmesan.  Yes, everyone, it’s pretty much entirely loser-ly to nerd out over a salad that looks just like holly, but it’s lovely and happy anyway, despite what you say.  It’s the perfect thing to serve as a first course for Christmas dinner.  It gets people all excited and riled up about the meal-to-come, it fools people into thinking everything’s going to be all light and healthy (cuz, you know, it’s not!), and it takes advantage of the season’s offerings.  I kind of think that, as simple as it is, it’s one of my biggest successes in terms of purely inventive holiday fare.  I’ve been asked for this recipe many times over the past few years, and so here it is friends!  May you have a wonderful, happy, and healthy holiday season.  I will be serving this again this year for my amazing sister Lori, my amazing brother-in-law Austin, and their new, due-any-moment-now son Lukas (the new love of my life, no matter what), in Malibu this year.  I’ve never been more excited to cook any meal in my entire life as I am for the one that happens for Christmas 2009.  We deserve this Christmas together.

Ingredients:

1 package of Satur Farms wild arugula, or about 5-6 cups of wild arugula from another source, rinsed well, and put through a salad spinner to dry (NOTE:  It sort of has to be wild arugula for the right look, but the flavor won’t be compromised if you go for baby arugula, just so you know.)

1 bundle of fresh watercress, tips only, rinsed well, and put through a salad spinner to dry

1-2 tbsp. pink peppercorns

1 lovely red apple, washed but un-peeled, en julienne (NOTE:  I used Braeburn because I like tart apples.)

A 1 1/2″ length of vanilla bean, split in 1/2 lengthwise and scraped, or 1/2 tsp. real vanilla extract

Juice of 1/2 large lemon

About 1/2 cup or so of extra virgin olive oil

A bit of sugar, if necessary

A bit of apple cider vinegar, if necessary

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Freshly shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Instructions:

1.  Once the wild arugula and watercress tips have been put through the salad spinner and dried well, there’s truly not much more to do!  Add the pink peppercorns to the salad greens, give a toss with your clean hands, and reserve.

2.  Next, make the salad dressing.  The classic vinaigrette proportion is 1 part acid to 3 parts oil so keep that in mind as you make the dressing.  Squeeze half of a large lemon into a glass jar or workbowl, making sure no seeds make their way into the situation there.  Add enough olive oil to the lemon juice to make the 1 to 3 proportion.  Stir together vigorously with a fork to combine, or do my favorite method, which is put a screw-top on the glass jar and shake well.  Add the vanilla, salt, and pepper, and stir or shake again.  Taste it.  If it needs more acidity, add some apple cider vinegar.  If it needs some sweet, add some sugar.  If it needs more “flavor pop,” add some salt.  It’s really up to you at this point.

3.  Toss the julienned apples in the dressing mixture so that they don’t turn brown and ugly.  Add the apple julienne to the watercress, arugula, and pink peppercorns, and toss with clean hands to combine evenly.  Add a bit more dressing if necessary, season to taste, and serve cold on salad plates with a nice shaving of fresh parmesan cheese.

Yield: This should make a lovely salad course for 6-8 people.  Merry Christmas everyone!