quinn's place

this is an “out-of-my-comfort-zone” recipe for sure.

but that’s what the new year is all about, eh?!

in fact, one of my many goals for this year (and last year, too) is to cook a new-to-me recipe every week that i wouldn’t normally make, or something with flavors that i don’t generally cook with.

this salad doesn’t exactly fall into that category since this is something i made up for my own blog, but i am basically killing this particular goal so far for the year, and it’s only january 8th. by the end of this day, i will have made 4 or 5 “new-to-me” recipes since last week. mostly from the bon appétit universe, surprise surprise!!!!!

i only cooked with fennel for the first time a few months ago when i made this grandma style pizza. sooo delicious. and wow, i always thought fennel would be ridiculously licorice-y, but it’s so so subtle and pleasant. and the bulb part is just a great crunch. also, i’m one of them black licorice loving freaks, so what was i waiting for anyway?

and dem pears doe…….full disclosure, these were a holiday gift from a family member. pears are neither peter’s or my favorite of fruits, so i wanted to at least get creative with them. sure, i ate a plain pear cut up with some honey & cinnamon, but overall, pears are just barely luke warm excitement for me. even less so for peter, haha.

but then i got to thinking (carrie bradshaw style)…..i couldn’t help but wonder…..meanwhile, in another kitchen across town…..

…..if i never come up with recipes using things i would normally not make or use for myself, i’m only stifling my own learning and creativity.

so i will try to get out of my cooking comfort zone more often!

however, i’m sorry to say that you’ll probably never see any seafood recipes on this website because that’s just crossing the line for me. plus, it would be quite fake of me to suddenly sing the praises of fish. but who knows, i could someday have a change of heart and/or taste buds.

ps. i feel extremely seen by this jim gaffigan bit about seafood.

pears are pretty, i’ll give it to em.

and i do have very fond memories of climbing pear trees growing up at my babysitter’s house, plucking off a crisp one and taking a few bites before throwing it to the ground.

also, pomegranate molasses! i made 2 recipes with it in the same day!

i have two bottles of it in our pantry and i’m glad i’m finally making use of it. it’s so delicious and tangy!

the char and tang of the pomegranate molasses on the pear is super tasty.

this is one of those salads where you must get one of each flavor/texture component in each bite!

ALSO! my never-before-blogged-about homemade go-to vinaigrette is a part of this recipe. you should certainly be making this vinaigrette in large quantities to keep in the fridge for all your new year salad-ing, it’s the best!

Kale, Fennel & Blue Cheese Salad with Pomegranate Poached Pear

Serves 3-4

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

Poached Pears & Salad:

2-3 large firm pears - cut in half, seeds removed (removing pear skin is optional)
1 TB butter or coconut oil
1/8 - 1/4 cup white wine
3 TB pomegranate molasses
1-2 Meyer lemons or regular lemon, cut in half
3-4 large kale leaves - washed, dried & torn
1 TB olive oil
1/8 of a fennel bulb, sliced, plus some fennel fronds
1/3 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/3 cup chopped pistachios
kosher salt, to taste

Go-To Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 TB apple cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, grated
1 small shallot, minced & rinsed
1 TB dijon mustard
pinch of kosher salt & black pepper

Instructions -

Wash and dry all the produce. Prepare the vinaigrette by whisking all ingredients in a small bowl, or shaking in a jar until combined. Store the unused vinaigrette in a jar in the fridge up to 2 weeks.

Place the torn or cut kale in a large bowl, drizzling with 1 TB olive oil and massaging well with your hands for 1-2 minutes. Add a pinch of kosher salt and toss again.

Slice the fennel and chop pistachios.

Heat the butter or coconut oil in a skillet on medium heat until it bubbles and barely begins to brown. Place the halved pears cut side down in the pan and let the pears and butter simmer together for 3-5 minutes, depending how firm or soft you’d like your final product. Reduce heat and add the white wine to the pan. Allow the wine to bubble and settle before drizzling the pomegranate molasses over the pears.

Bring heat back to medium. Gently lift the edge of each pear to let the liquid underneath and coat the pan. After 3-5 minutes, gently check to see if the pears are browning and getting slightly charred from the pomegranate molasses. You want the pears to still be slightly firm when you remove them from the pan. Place them cooked side up on a plate and set aside.

Press the halved Meyer lemons into the pomegranate molasses mixture in the skillet for a few minutes until charred.

Add the fennel and blue cheese crumbles to the bowl of tenderized kale and toss well. Add the desired amount of vinaigrette and toss gently again until all leaves are dressed.

Serve up the salad in bowls or on plates, topping with chopped pistachios and extra blue cheese crumbles, if desired. Tuck a halved pear and charred Meyer lemon into each serving.

Squeeze the lemon over the top of everything, including the pear, before eating.

Serve pears immediately!

Leftover kale salad can be stored in the fridge for 24-48 hours.

pete & i went back to nyc for a few days to celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary in november!

we jam packed our time with all the walking and enjoying all the foods & drinks in the city!

^ our first little airbnb was kind of like a woodsy cabin - it was cool and located in a really good neighborhood. they claim that walt disney once lived in this apartment…..can’t be sure if that was hogwash.

it was also located dangerously close to joe’s pizza.

this trip certainly made up for all the times i went to new york city and didn’t have any good pizza.

^ one of the most surprising and best things we ate the entire time was this crispy mushroom & burrata dish at rafele! it doesn’t look like much, but wowww we were impressed at how delicious it was paired with the bread and the pickled eggplant? plum? we still aren’t sure what that other side dish was, haha. but it was all so flavorful together!

back on our bullshit. back to mcsorley’s. 😈

a guy outside was doing a drawing of mcsorley’s that night - and we’d met some folks from kansas and had many a’brew at that point. we bought the drawing and paid way too much money to ship it home since we didn’t wanna shlep it around for the rest of our trip. oh well, we have such fond memories at mcsorley’s, so it was worth it.

^ i was weirdly so inspired by this cute little card shoppe - greenwich village letterpress! i could have stayed there hours and looked at every card. it made me want to have my own card shop. i am obsessT with picking out greeting cards!

^ at rosecran’s around the corner from greenwich letterpress. a great cozy florist & coffee shop to chill and write out all those cards :)

as you may know if you’ve read any of my latest posts from this year - i am fully captivated by the bon appétit mag world, so we had to visit scarr’s pizza since they named it the best slice in nyc.

we found both styles quite enjoyable - i think our favorite slices we had throughout this trip for sure! we first got the square grandma style because they didn’t have any regular slices ready. supa delicious. and once those fresh triangles came out of the oven, we hopped right back in line for more!

^ this little heart showed up right when i needed it. i wanted to remember this moment where i felt my granny watching over me :)

one of our nice neighbors down the street from us recommended the commuter ferry from pier 11 on the south end of manhattan as the best way to tour nyc by boat without spending a bunch of money on an actual guided tour. and he was right. it cost $2.75 to take the boat all the way up manhattan on the east river. it was timed perfectly after our pizza date, and we caught the boat at sunset. we were the only idiots who went out on the deck upstairs because it was WINDY & FREEZING - but we snapped a few pics and it was pretty. this was a fun trip highlight!

we popped into so many little restaurants & bars as all we did here was walk walk walk walk walk around the city. we also saw a couple of jazz shows that felt very special & new yorky and was peter’s favorite part of our trip. we went to a comedy show one night, too.

^ just after escaping our finalized basement renovation that we worked on all summer - pete finds the one home depot in the city, lol.

also, doughnut plant. yum.

^ jerry seinfeld sent us here. the italian sando was very guuuuud. all that cheese! and the meat was so thinly sliced and o mamma mia it was delicioso! also just a fun experience in a real italian shoppe with everyone shouting loudly about their various deli needs.

^ i wonder how many photos i have of pete sitting across the table from me. some of my favorite times together :)

misoya for ramen on a cold night. it was very good. i would not get corn in my ramen again though - i didn’t realize how corny that corn flavor could be.

^ biking through central park!

happy 1 year wedding anniversary to us! 11 years together.

💛

november 10th, 2019

on our last night in the city, we stayed at arlo nomad hotel in one of the king sky rooms. so so cool. it’s a very small room, but such a great city view. i was too excited about the views to sleep… also because it got super bright in there the millisecond that the sun started coming up, lol. i only had to open my eyes and got to watch the sun rise over new york city. super fun hotel experience.

& our room looked up at the empire state building!