Tyler's Zucchini Carpaccio

I first saw this beautiful carpaccio a while back and have been dying to make it ever since, but could never find the right occasion. I finally got my chance when the lovely L&P stopped by for dinner one weekend night. L is an amazing and truly talented singer who comes over frequently to "jam" with the soon-to-be-hubby. The two of them are even doing a performance at our wedding! Normally, we just order in when L comes over, but I thought, in the spirit of this blog, that I would give some of my "too much food for only 2 people" recipes a shot. Plus, P & I would need some serious sustenance for all the hard listening and critiquing we would have to do. ;)

This carpaccio was all I could have ever hoped for. It was refreshing and light, perfect for the sauna-like weather we have been experiencing here in NYC. The ricotta provides a beautifully smooth contrast to the crisp, thin slices of zucchini. The leeks, olive oil, herbs and lemon juice all combine to make a wonderful appetizer that is substantial feeling, even if it is just a bit of cut up veggies and cheese. Best of all, there is absolutely no cooking involved! In fact, if you own one of the fancy mandolin things, this would be an absolute breeze to put together. I actually received one as a shower present, but it's still up in Canada for a few weekends so I made do with just a regular knife and a little patience. Slicing it by hand was surprisingly simple and took no more than a handful of minutes.

This was a real crowd pleaser at my table and is a definite make for the next time you have company coming over.

Zucchini Carpaccio
Adapted from Tyler's Ultimate - Tyler Florence

2 zucchini (or enough to fill your platter), sliced into very fine rounds
Salt and pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 leek, cleaned well, white and light green parts sliced into very thin rings
1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (I used dill and chives, but could use whatever you like)
1 cup ricotta cheese
Fresh mint, small handful chopped finely

• Lay the zucchini slices out in an overlapping circular pattern around the platter.
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
• Drizzle a tablespoon or two of olive oil (enough to lightly cover all zucchini) and the lemon juice on top.
• Place platter in the fridge for about 10 minutes so that all the flavors can meld together.
• Scatter leeks and herbs on top.
• Place teaspoon size rounds of the ricotta sporadically around platter and then scatter chopped mint on top.

Giada's Stuffed Pork Chops

Every time I think of pork chops all I can picture are those tasteless, rubber-like pieces of shake 'n baked meat that I dreaded having for dinner as a kid. To this day I will never order a pork chop in a restaurant, and certainly never thought I would bring that kind of disaster into my own home. That is until my soon-to-be-hubby caught a glance of Giada making these little chops. "I want those!" he eagerly pronounced, which is one of the few times he has actually requested something for dinner rather than just being perfectly content with what I pick (we're definitely one of those couples who do the "what-do-you-want-for-dinner" fight at least a few times a week). So, being eager to please and feeling slightly tempted to tackle a few pork chop demons of my own, I caved in and agreed to make them for dinner.

Boy am I glad I did! That's right - I'm a pork convert. Not only were these totally delicious and moist, they also looked beautiful on a plate. They are stuffed with an array of wonderful flavors like sundried tomato, spinach and goat cheese. And the sauce that finishes them off gives this nice lemony taste that rounds the whole dish out. So, maybe it wasn't so much the pork I was in love with as the stuffing and sauce, but hey, it's a pork chop and I liked it. Add in the fact that they came from my very own kitchen and I think this was a pretty big accomplishment!

Even though they looked pretty complicated, they were surprisingly easy to make. Essentially you just mix some stuff together, jam it into a piece of meat, fry it up and serve it with a little bit of sauce from the same pan. I found the hardest part was attempting not to scald myself as the hot oil continuously flew out of my pan. I kept picturing Jessica Simpson in that episode of the newlyweds where she is trying to fry up some chicken and keeps screaming cause she's getting pelted with hot oil. I laughed then, but now I feel the girl's pain! It was worth the little bit of effort though, and I would definitely suggest giving it a try.

Mothers of America, put down the Shake 'N Bake!!

Stuffed Pork Chops
Adapted from Everyday Italian - Giada De Laurentiis

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
6 diced sun-dried tomatoes
1 10-ounce bag of frozen spinach, thawed
Salt & pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup (2 ounces) goat cheese
1/3 cup reduced-fat cream cheese
4 4-ounce center-cut pork chops
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 lemon, zested
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

• In a saute pan, warm about 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
• Add garlic and cook for 1 minute or until the garlic becomes fragrant.
• While the garlic is cooking, squeeze all water out of the frozen spinach and add to the pan.
• Add sundried tomatoes, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of thyme.
• Cook for a few minutes until all ingredients are warmed through and combined well.
• Remove spinach mixture from pan and place in a medium mixing bowl.
• Add the goat and cream cheeses to the bowl and combine well with the spinach mixture.
• Cut through the middle of each pork chop, just short of all the way through, so that it can fold outwards like a book.
• Stuff the spinach mixture inside each opening.
• Season the top of the pork with salt and pepper.
• In the saute pan, warm 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
• Place the pork into the pan with the hot oil and season opposite side with salt and pepper.
• Cook for about 4 minutes on each side or until a golden crust forms on both sides and the meat is cooked through.
• While cooking, combine the broth, Dijon mustard, lemon zest and juice from the half lemon in a small bowl.
• Remove pork from the pan and transfer to a plate.
• Cover plate with a loose layer of aluminum foil to keep warm.
• Add the chicken broth mixture to the pan, using a wooden spoon to scape all the pork droppings off the bottom.
• Cook the broth for around 8 minutes or until it has reduced by about half.
• Place pork on serving dish and poor reduced broth over top.
  

Rachel's Broccoli Rabe with Sausage

As promised, here is the Broccoli Rabe with Sausage that I made the other night to go along with the Shallota Flavor Spaghetti. Although I thought it was a rather strange combination of foods at first, it was actually a pretty decent accompaniment to the spaghetti. It added a vegetable and a bit of protein to the meal which otherwise would have been lacking. Unfortunately, there were some mixed emotions over this one in our house though. I thought it was pretty bland tasting, but the soon-to-be-hubby just loved it. I chalk it up to the fact that he would probably eat grass if it had a bit of sausage mixed in. Broccoli rabe can be rather bitter, and this just never seemed to cook out enough for me. If you decide to make this and like spicy food, I would definitely add some chili flakes or something just to give it a little more zing.

Making it was a breeze though. Rachel came up with a nice way of preparing the whole thing - boil water in a deep skillet and then drain the pasta and use the same pan to saute it all together. I never would have thought to boil a veggie in a big pan! I actually used our big non-stick wok and it worked perfectly. Although I wasn't head-over-heels for this one, I'll give it an A+ for clean-up.

Broccoli Rabe with Sausage
Adapted from 30 Minute Meals - Rachel Ray

1 large bundle broccoli rabe (1 1/4 - 1 1/2 pounds)
Salt
2 tablespoons EVOO
1 pound bulk Italian hot or sweet sausage (or a combination)

• Fill a large saute pan or wok about 3/4 full of water and bring to a boil over high heat.
• Chop the broccoli rabe into a few inch pieces, trimming off the stalky ends.
• Add a handful of salt to the boiling water then add the broccoli pieces and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Carefully drain the broccoli rabe and water from the pan.
• Using the same pan, heat the EVOO over medium-high heat.
• Add sausage and use a wood spoon to break it apart as it begins to brown.
• After sausage is browned (6-7 minutes), add the broccoli rabe back into the pan and toss to combine with sausage.

Rachel's Stinging Eye Pasta

Okay, so maybe this dish isn't really called the "stinging eye," but it sure as heck should be! This pasta uses 10 whole shallots - all sliced and diced by hand. My eyes are watering just thinking about it. I even lit a candle by the cutting board, which I'm pretty sure Martha Stewart told me was a surefire way to avoid any onion side effects. No good. It is times like this that make me really want one of those plastic chopper things that you see on late night infomercials. To make matters worst, Rachel says that getting one of those big shallots that is essentially two separate ones once you peel off the skin still only counts as one - cruel, cruel shallot. I will admit though, that in the end the shallots really do cook down to practically nothing (no matter how many "2-for-1" winners you get) and are completely necessary to flavor the heaping mound of pasta they are topped with.

The dish overall was easy to make, albeit painful, and was pretty tasty. It does not, however, taste like French Onion Soup, which Rachel attests to in the show. It's good, but it ain't French Onion Soup good. It's also made with a whole wheat pasta, which I normally hate as I know it's just a healthy replacement for delicious normal pasta. The whole wheat pasta tasted surprisingly good though - I even think it might be better than normal pasta (gasp!) in this particular dish. I'm not sure if the overall dish is necessarily healthy as there is quite a bit of butter and cheese involved, but at least we are getting some kind of nutritional upgrade with the WW pasta thing.

I made Rachel's broccoli rabe with sausage to accompany the pasta, just like she did in the show, and will tell ya'll about that little heap of sausage pretending to be healthy some time soon.

Rachel's Shallota Flavor Spaghetti
Adapted from 30 Minute Meals - Rachel Ray

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or as Rachel would say "EVOO!")
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
10 shallots, thinly sliced
Salt and Pepper
1 pound whole-wheat spaghetti
Handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

• Place a large pot of water over high heat to bring to a boil.
• Add the EVOO and butter to a large saute pan over medium-low heat.
• Add garlic, shallots and salt and pepper to taste and cook, occasionally giving the contents a little stir, until the onions begin to caramelize (approx. 20 minutes).
• When the shallots are about halfway done cooking, add salt to the pot of boiling water and add the pasta.
• Cook pasta according to package instructions (probably about 8-10 minutes).
• Add pasta to saute pan once done cooking, along with a ladle or 2 of the pasta water to help create a sauce, the cheese, parsley and additional black pepper if desired.
• Take off heat and combine well.

Ina's Omelet for Two

If I had to pick one TV cook that I would most like to have the cooking abilities of it would definitely be Ina Garten. Her dishes range from fairly simple and straight forward to so complex that they have my head spinning before the oven is even pre-heated. Every dish is presented so beautifully and the whole experience of her show, from her gorgeously streamlined and fresh kitchen to her welcoming and elegant table scapes, is executed to perfection. I also am in love the with her home in the Hamptons (as every good New York girl should be) but that's a whole different story.

She preforms her recipes like she has made them dozens of times and could practically cook them in her sleep. As easy as she makes them look though, even as a novice cook, I get a sense that dishes like her "Baba au Rhum" (a crazy hard looking cake she made once that practically gave me nightmares) are to be approached with caution. Luckily, she has quite a collection of beginner friendly recipes that are easy to assemble, yet leave your dinner guests thinking that you are a whiz in the kitchen.

This omelet is one of those dishes. It is practically as easy to make as scrambled eggs but looks way more refined and makes a perfect breakfast or dinner. For the hubby-to-be's birthday I had surprised him with a few bottles of white wine from a winery in Nice,France that we had fallen in love with (it also helped that this is the wine we shared on the night of our engagement). This beautiful wine, paired with this omelet and a salad was the perfect little French dinner.

Looking back it was a little heavy as I think I put too much cheese on top. The recipe specified how much cheese to put inside the omelet, but the guidelines for how much to put on top were slightly vague. When it comes to cheese I usually take the "you can never have enough" approach, but for this dish I wish I would have scaled it back a bit as the omelet is plenty heavy and filling enough with out an extra mound of dairy goodness on top.

Bon Appetite!

Ina's Omelet for Two
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa - Barefoot Contessa at Home, 2006

1/4 pound thick-cut bacon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup medium-diced Yukon gold potatoes (about 1/2 a large potato)
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno (I left this out because I'm not a big fan of spicy)
5 extra-large eggs
2 tablespoons milk or cream
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts
4 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar, diced, plus a little bit more for grating on top

• Preheat the oven to 350° F.
• Place an 8-inch non-stick, oven-proof skillet over medium-low heat.
• Slice bacon into 1-inch pieces and add to skillet.
• Cook for 5-7 minutes until the bacon begins to brown and crisp up.
• Remove bacon from pan and place on a paper towel-lined plate.
• Drain the excess bacon grease from the skillet.
• Add the butter to the pan, then the diced potato and chopped onion.
• Cook for 10 minutes or until the potatoes soften and the onion begins to brown.
• If desired, add the jalapeno to the skillet and cook for a few more seconds.
• While the potato and onion are cooking, mix together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper with a fork until combined and slightly frothy.
• Mix in the scallions and cheese to the egg mixture.
• Once the potatoes and onion are cooked, add the bacon and the egg mixture to the skillet.
• Put the skillet in the oven to cook for 15-20 minutes, or until omelet appears set and slightly puffed.
• Before pulling out of oven, garnish the skillet with a small handful of grated cheese and put back in oven for the cheese to melt (just a minute or so).
• Looks pretty enough to go straight to the table in the pan!

Homemade Bisquick!

I LOVE pancakes. I mean really love pancakes. As in this would be my last meal if I ever had to choose such a thing. I eat them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, desserts - practically anytime I can in some way rationalize eating them (I have yet to come across a time when I couldn't). My mom used to make them for us for both dinner and breakfast and I think this is where my infatuation began. She makes the best pancakes I've ever had. I think that might be due to the fact that they were made by her more than anything, but they are still the best.

In all my pancake making though, I have only every made them one way -- with Bisquick. Oh I've put in my share of different mix-ins, but they always start from that same yellow box. So imagine my surprise when Nigella comes up with this instant pancake mix that so closely resembles my beloved Bisquick. This accomplishes the whole "make pancakes in minutes" gig but with the caveat that you get to proclaim them as being homemade. Amazing! All you do is mix a few dry ingredients together, store them in an airtight container and toss them in the pantry. You will then be set to make delicious pancakes any time your heart desires.

The batter turned out perfectly and was very easy to assemble. The measurements for the batter are also easy to remember so you don't have to go hunting for the recipe next time. The pancakes themselves had a nice consistency and were delicious. Nigella also made a blueberry syrup to accompany these cakes, which I decided to take a crack at since the pancake making itself was such a cinch. Something went wrong with that syrup though. It was really watery and lacking in flavor. Could it have been due to the fact that I used frozen blueberries instead of fresh? I think I will just throw some berries into the batter next time and hopefully yield a better effect. But tonight I'm thinking banana chocolate chip...yum!

Nigella's Instant Pancake Mix w/ Blueberry Maple Syrup
Adapted from Nigella Express, Nigella Lawson, 2007

For the Mix:
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar

Mix all the above ingredients together and store in air-tight container.

To make the pancakes:
1 egg
1 cup of milk
1 tablespoon melted butter

• Whisk together 1 cup of the mix with each of the items listed above just until combined.
• Use an ice cream scoop or something of that sort to spoon out the batter onto a skillet over medium-high heat.**
• Using a spatula, flip the cakes over once they begin to bubble and have congealed enough to hold there shape.
• Continue flipping and cooking until they are browned on both sides.
  

For the blueberry syrup:
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 cups blueberries

• In a small pot, combine the berries and the syrup.
• Bring up to a boil for 3 minutes.
• Serve over pancakes.
  

**I personally like my pancakes when they are just crisp on the outside, so I always use a medium to medium-low heat to get them just right. But I'm only an expert at eating them, not necessarily cooking them!

Mary's German Potato Salad

I find that I'm very partial to which tv cooks I decide to trust with my dinner, so when a new one shows up on the scene I'm always a bit skeptical. Enter Mary Nolan. As skeptical as I am, her title sold me on her show - Chic and Easy. This totally defines my personal style and the way I like things. Although I'm a bit uneasy about my abilities to produce anything "chic" in the kitchen, I was quite intrigued by the "easy" aspect.

After watching this show, I have to be honest, I was not feeling so tight with Mary. She uses a lot of "I" language and did not seem all too relatable. She also made a comment about how her grandparents used to own a farm with chickens and how she loved meeting the chickens before they were served up at dinner...totally creepy! I'm all for eating locally and knowing what you're putting into your body, but this was a little extreme. Needless to say, we will not be discussing the chicken dish she made on that show.



The potato salad, however, looked totally delicious and was unlike any potato salad I had seen before. This is not your typical backyard picnic potato salad. This one is served hot with a heaping pile of bacon. It's practically a meal in and of itself (and considering that I totally burnt the pre-marinated roast from the grocer that was supposed to be the main part of the meal, it was exactly that). It was tasty and very easy, but it certainly was not chic! In fact, it looked a bit of a mess. If you can get past the physical aspects, this is definitely worth making when the weather is a little cooler, as it is rather heavy. The combination of the bacon and the mustardy type sauce was just awesome, and it's already been requested to make a repeat appearance by my soon-to-be hubby. It would certainly make a nice replacement to the tried-and-true mashed potatoes, or even as a main course if the rest of your meal seems to hit a bit of a snag ;)


Thanks Mary - I'll keep watching and trying and maybe we'll end up BFFs after all!

Mary's German Potato Salad
Adapted from Chic and Easy - Mary Nolan

2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes (I used 4 medium sized)
1/2 pound thick-cut bacon
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons minced chives (These are meant for garnishing -- I'm lazy and didn't add them.

• Put the potatoes in a pot and fill with water until it is a few inches above the spuds. Add some salt to the water and up the heat until the water starts to boil.*
• Cook potatoes for 15-20 minutes or until they feel tender when you poke them with a fork. I would say it's definitely more on the 20 minute side, as when I was eating the salad it seemed like they could have been a bit softer in the center.
• When the potatoes have cooked, drain and slice them. I chopped them up a bit as I didn't want to huge pieces, but size to whatever your heart desires.
• While the potatoes are cooking, fry up your bacon until it's nice and crispy over medium-high heat.
• Blot it on a paper towel lined plate and discard of bacon grease until there is only about 1/4 cup left in the pan.**
• In the bacon pan, turn the heat down to medium and toss in the chopped onion. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the onions start to look slightly clear.
• In a small bowel combine the vinegar, sugar, mustard and salt.
• Whisk vinegar mixture into the pan containing the cooked onions until it begins to boil a bit and thickens up.
• Add potatoes and toss to combine with sauce.
• Place in serving bowl and crumble bacon over top.
• Serve immediately.

*I boiled the water first and then went to add the potatoes before realizing I did it backwards. I started over, but have no idea if it would have made a difference. I think it might have just increased cooking time -- thoughts?

**Note - it is not a good idea to put bacon grease down your kitchen drain or to attempt to pour it into a disposable plastic bottle because you think you have devised a "smart" way of disposing of it. Not that I think anyone would ever actually do something so unintelligent....

The Queen of Italian Chic

I love Giada De Laurentiis. I mean this girl is just adorable and completely relatable - so much so, that I sometimes forget that we aren't actually friends! She also has this uncanny ability to make beautiful food appear effortless and is constantly convincing me to attempt one of her many recipes. I've had my ups and downs with some of these recipes though, as they are not necessarily as effortless as she makes them seem (or at least not to a total beginner like myself). But try and try again we must, and so that is just what I did with this "easy" pasta dish.

This one lures you in with promises of salty prosciutto, bright green asparagus and melty mozzarella - yum! This meal is chic and almost "light" feeling, even if it is a hearty pasta dish. I just added a small side salad and a bottle of wine, and presto, I'm a chic Italian cook as well! At least that's what I'll keep telling myself... ;)

In my limited ventures into the cooking world, I have found the most complicated part of the whole thing is getting timing right and being prepared for the next step. I took this to heart in this dish and did all kinds of chopping and prepping before I even turned on the heat to boil the pasta water. No, this is not the most time efficient way to accomplish a meal, but it works for me and I could spend all of my time concentrating on not overcooking the pasta instead of rushing to chop the meat (the time they a lot for chopping is never enough for someone with little to no knife skills). So that's the way I'm going to lay it out in the instructions below. But please feel free speedy choppers, to chop away while your pasta is cooking as I'm sure that there is ample time for someone with a bit more skill.

You might also want to accidentally "drop" some of your choppings to any little helpers waiting nearby...

** My mozzarella tended to clump together into big cheesy bits...but not in a good way. Below I've added the mozzarella once the dish is off the heat as I think that will help from getting overwhelmed with cheese globs.

Giada's Chic Spaghetti

Adapted from Everyday Italian - Giada De Laurentiis

2 pounds asparagus (my asparagus came in "a bunch" and this seemed like a fine amount, but I have no idea if it was 2 pounds)
3/4 pound spaghetti
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
6 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto (my meat came by the pound, so to help anyone else out: 1 pound = 16 ounces)
6 ounces smoked mozzarella cheese
6 tablespoons fresh basil leaves

• Trim the asparagus by holding both ends of one spear in each hand and snapping in two. The spear will break right at the point where you should be trimming (i.e. the end part that you don't want to eat will now be removed). For that point, line all the other spears up and cut them at roughly the same spot.
• Crush and mince all 4 garlic cloves.
• Slice the prosciutto into thin strips.
• Dice the mozzarella.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add salt to the water. Add asparagus and cook for 2 to 3 minutes then remove from the water and place in a bowl filled with ice water. You want the asparagus to still be firm when it comes out - no one likes mushy asparagus!
• When the asparagus has cooled down in the ice bath, proceed to cutting it up into 1-inch pieces.
• Make sure your water is still boiling and add the pasta. Cook for about 8 minutes. When time is nearing an end, begin checking your pasta for doneness as you want it to still have a bit of a bite to it and not be overcooked.
• When the pasta has only a minute or so left to cook, heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook for about half a minute. Add the chopped asparagus and salt and pepper.
• Add the pasta and combine well. You can add to the pan a ladle or so of the remaining pasta water if the dish seems a bit dry. The pasta water will help to create a bit of a sauce.
• Add sliced prosciutto.
• Chop up the basil and garnish the top, then remove from heat. Add chopped mozzarella and toss to combine.
• Add more salt and pepper if need be.
• Open good (or cheap) bottle of crisp white wine and enjoy!

It's Summer!

You know it's finally summertime when the weather gets uncomfortably warm, you have a strange desire to go to work in your bathing suit and BBQ invites flood your inbox. Even though barbecuing in the city generally entails standing over a stove with a grill plate and turning the A/C off to imitate the "outside," New Yorkers will use any excuse to throw a party and socialize with friends, and there is no better way to do that than by having a good-ole BBQ. So this year, I'm coming prepared. No, I won't be venturing into the uncharted territory of throwing one of those wonderful parties myself, but I most certainly hope to be attending my share and will want to bring a stellar accompaniment to all that "grilled" meat.

So this year I'm coming with Nigella's coleslaw. This dish is super simple if you are lucky enough to own one of those Cuisinart choppers (thank-you wedding registry!). Otherwise, you could chop everything up with a knife at the small cost of your time and sanity, or just go to the grocery store and buy one of those pre-chopped coleslaw packages (if only life was full of decisions of these sorts...).

This dish is not only simple and yummy, but it screams summertime, and will be sure to make you a standout at any BBQ.

Nigella's New Orleans Coleslaw
Adapted from Nigella Express - Nigella Lawson, 2007

1 head white or savoy cabbage, about 2 pounds before prepared
2 carrots
2 celery sticks
4 scallions
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Salt & Pepper
2/3 cup chopped pecans (I used candied pecans because it was all I had and they made it delicious! If you have them or can find them I would definitely give it a try.)

• In the food processor chop up the cabbage into thin strips.
• Peel and grate the carrots.
• Slice the celery and scallions pretty finely.
• Combine the mayo, buttermilk, syrup and vinegar together in the bottom of a large bowl and whisk together. Add all the veggies on top and toss to combine.
• Add salt and pepper to taste. (For those of you who don't quite understand this line and have no idea what their "taste" for salt and pepper might be - like me - than just add a little bit-by-bit and keep tasting along the way. It's like blush, it's easy to add but hard to take away!).
• Top with pecans.
• Bring to BBQ and impressive friends/relatives/the cute guy who just moved into the neighborhood.