Better late than never. I finally leafed through the summer issue of McCaffrey’s Market’s Real Food Magazine.
This seasonal handout has not always impressed me, but this issue seemed to take a big leap forward into presenting more interesting food along with good articles by top chefs – okay, probably by their ghostwriters, but still. (A packager/publisher puts the content for this kind of publication together and sells it to markets, adding their own name, etc.)
One recipe that caught my eye was White Bean, Mussel, and Red Onion Salad with Sliced Lemon Dressing. It was the dressing that made it a must-try for me, that and knowing that McCaffrey’s offers a great short-cut: fresh pre-cooked mussels sold in plastic tubs in front of the seafood counter. The recipe did not use that short cut, though, it started with dried beans, mussels in the shell, the whole nine yards.
But I used the pre-cooked mussels and canned white beans. I added chopped red onion and grape tomatoes, and made the fabulous dressing: 1/2 cup olive oil, 3 slices 1/4-inch thick slices of lemon, rind and all, and 1/2 cup of fresh basil leaves. Whirl it in the processor until the lemon rind is puréed into everything else and voila- a wonderful dressing that I will find all kinds of uses for, maybe adding garlic sometimes, too.
NJ SPICE 