A Pop Art Style Winter Salad

There has been a proliferation of art stuff on the blog recently that is a bit overwhelming. Not only do I want my 3 non-art readers, Annie, Jonathan and Mike to feel welcome here but I also would like to avoid doing the kind of reactive blog about the art world that is so boring. I'm not really into creating controversy for its own sake, or even for publicity's sake, and I'm tired of the over-schmoozing that goes with art events. Thanks to Annie we had the Felt Club post recently and I sure hope she will contribute some more in the future!

Meanwhile, you art people are all going to Miami at the end of the week for the last coke-fueled art shindigs before the recession, so I'll take advantage to do something else while you are away partying. I figure, you won't be able to read the blog while trying to foist your still-wet-out-of-grad-school-LA-painters to the Rubells anyway.

It's early December, winter is coming and so is recession following on its stormy footsteps, and I haven't posted a recipe in a while.
To cheer you up, here's a winter salad I make from time to time. I like a bit of color on my plate so I use some different shade of cauliflower, but regular white tastes the same and is 3 times cheaper, something important if you are a striking WGA writer, a recently laid-off loan officer or a real estate broker from Cleveland (Hello, Cleveland!), or an unemployed Frenchy blogger. It suits vegetarians fine and probably vegans too, since I'm blogging from LA I shouldn't forget that peculiar category of the population.
But since I cannot change my little artsy-fartsy self, my salad has to have Pop-ish colors.

Pop Art Winter Salad
(appetizer for 4 persons or main dish for 2)

. 1 head cauliflower, purple if you are flush, white if not, sliced.
. 3 pink lady apples, peeled, sliced and diced into small slivers
. 3 carrots, peeled and grated
. a very large handful of slivered almonds (I was too lazy to toast them but I'm sure you can)


Hazelnut Vinaigrette

. pinch salt
. ground/cracked pepper
. 1 tablespoon vinegar (I used a champagne/pomegranate one but a non-chichi, non balsamic one, like raspberry is fine too)
. 3 tablespoons hazelnut oil (not cheap, but affordable at Cost Plus Imports)


Put all the peeled, slivered, etc. components of the salad in a large bowl.
Make the vinaigrette: put the salt and pepper in a small bowl, cover with the vinegar, stir with a fork until the salt is dissolved (it makes whitish, milky clouds on the surface of the vinegar). Pour the oil, whisk it with the fork until the mixture emulsify.
Mix the vinaigrette with the salad, to taste (usually, 1 tablespoon 1/2 to 2 are enough).

The leftover vinaigrette keeps for up to one week in the fridge.