Baked goods are best fresh, right out of the oven and the same day they are made. Why is that anyway? Because after they come out of the oven, they continue to lose moisture. And moreover, when you see the day-old pastries for sale at your corner coffee shop, they are usually individually wrapped in saran wrap. Do you know why? Because it helps keep that same moisture in just a little bit more than if it sat in a case, exposed to the air. I am already appreciating the science behind baking.

My baking CHEF simplified it like this: baking is really about knowing the science behind 10 ingredients. Know these inside and out and you will understand baking. A few of these ingredients? Butter, flour, yeast, baking soda, baking powder, sugar…

I like learning little details like this. This has so much to do with why I am going to culinary school; it is a fact-finding mission. Only I traded in the spy glasses for a chef coat and a thermometer.

Another example:

I was making a salad dressing at home the other night, and a big grin crept across my face as I tossed in a measly teaspoon of mustard. Do you know why (shall I stop with the redundant questions already?)? Because I now know that mustard is magic. It contains lecithin, and is the third party that ushers in the marriage of oil and vinegar. The little ingredient that could, whether wet or dry mustard, it creates the emulsion of oil and vinegar—the mixing of ingredients that don’t normally mix. Egg yolks offer the same magic… in case you wanted to know.

By the way, don’t be alarmed if your vinaigrette dressing separates again; the magic isn’t gone, it is just science stepping in. Emulsions can be temporary (vinaigrettes, especially temporary if you don’t have mustard or yolk), semi-permanent (hollandaise) or permanent (mayonnaise).

I won’t go on, though I am tempted. Just remember, when mixing in mustard, you too are part of the kitchen-making magic. We are not only cooks, but also scientists and magicians.

Mustard Vinaigrette
2 T wine vinegar (or fresh lemon juice)
coarse salt & pepper, to taste
2/3 cup salad oil (olive or canola)
1 1/2 tsp mustard
optional: 1-2 tsp honey

Place in jar and shake like mad; OR listen to age-old, proven instructions and add the oil in a constant drizzle while whisking (also called aerating—it helps the emulsion process as well).

Some other mustard dressings around the web:

• Honey Mustard Dressing from Food Network
• Ginger Honey Mustard from Group Recipes
• Creamy Tarragon Mustard Dressing from Letite’s Culinaria
• Cream Dijon Dressing from Epicurious

Answer: they are all a wrapped in Greek.

My latest favorite salad is this Greek salad, pictured here. One of our favorite family movies is: My Big Fat Greek Wedding. And my sixth grade son just started a new social studies unit on Greek culture.

My son is learning everything from Greek religion to dress, history and geography. The ‘dress’ part of which added a twin size white sheet to my errand list (I often crack up when I consider what lands on my errand list, it is so random and often so unusual and so very mismatched that it warrants a chuckle. But I will talk about that more on another day). What you need to know: I bought a big white sheet so my son, like every other child in the sixth grade, can make togas to wear daily to class. Errands aside, this new dress code is worth a chuckle. And Target will wonder why they are out of flat, twin, white bed sheets. They will never know what hit them. Maybe I will buy a Queen white sheet and wear a togo myself; that would be cause for erupting chuckles in various circles…

Well, if you aren’t going to wear a toga, and you don’t have time to watch a movie (though, try to make time for this one, it is a hoot), you might as well make this simple, good for you salad. Course, you could upstage me: wear a toga while eating Greek salad and simultaneously watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Hands down: you win.

I wonder if I should pack this salad, along with some pita wedges, in my son’s lunch during their Greek days?

Simple Greek Salad
1/2 red onion
kalamata olives, pitted (about 2/3 cup)
cherry tomatoes, halved (about 2/3 cup)
feta cheese, sliced into 1/2 inch dice (about 1 cup)
2/3 cup cucumber, peeled/seeded/sliced into half moons
1/2 lemon
Olive Oil (just under 1/4 cup)
kosher salt, course pepper (KSCP)
optional good idea: add handful of fresh parsley or mint and/or dried oregano, to taste

Slice the red onion into bite size wedges; let sit in bowl with ice and icewater for an hour (takes out the extra zing so the flavors can meld); meanwhile, place olives, tomatoes, feta, cucumber in a bowl. Mix juice of the lemon with twice as much olive oil and pour over salad. Let marinate, occasionally stirring, at room temperature 1-2 hours. After 1 hour, drain onions and squeeze out water from onions. Add onions, KSCP, herbs to salad. Toss and let sit at least another hour, and more.

It is amazing to me that I haven’t yet shared this salad with you. Don’t you love unusual salads? Don’t you get a smidgen tired of serving the same salad over and over? How about when you look in your fridge and the green leaves shout out little to no inspiration?

I am always so happy to have a few good salad options. What to serve guests to tickle their palate, what salads make me come back for seconds, or cause me to skip dessert altogether. Salads that skip being a side and go straight to the center. This is one of those salads.

You grow up eating greens, you regularly serve the same leafy greens, your friends eat greens and so when you present an endive laden salad people are inevitably, wonderfully impressed. Then they taste it, and they too, opt to eat more salad and wave off dessert.

Other favorite salads of mine include pecan blue cheese and sizzling goat cheese. For a twist, you can insert lightly sugared walnuts in place of the toasted walnuts.

Walnut Pear Endive Salad
5 heads endive
1 cup walnut halves
3 T champagne vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 room temperature egg yolk
KS&CP (kosher salt & coarse pepper)
1/2 cup plus 2 T olive oil
6 oz blue cheese crumbles
1 red pear, thinly sliced

Cut off end of each endive, separating leaves. Toss in bowl. Toast walnuts in skillet over medium until fragrant. Place vinegar, dijon, yolk, KS&CP and olive oil in JAR: Shake it all about. Combine dressing with endive leaves, add cheese, walnuts and pears on top or to blend.

If you serve my son a burger, he will say to you: “I cannot imagine a burger without blue cheese.” And then, while shaking his head from side to side, he will say: “it is soooooooo good.” He captures my heart; I am equally a fan of the pungent, pervasive, personalitied blue.

And I always am on the search for a quality coleslaw to resurrect the bad reputation sliced cabbage has earned from summery picnics and potlucks. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of a community table; but haven’t you met a pile of over mayo’d, unnaturally warm and soggy, out of a bag, well-worn slaw? Consider this: does the thought of coleslaw on the end of a fork make your cringe or lick you chops?

So imagine my trepidation when we went to dinner at a friend’s house and the beautifully marinated and grilled steak came plated with none other than coleslaw. Hold breath, insert fork, open mouth… seconds please? Maybe thirds? Oh, I forgot to take more the first time: uh, I didn’t believe coleslaw had redemptive value.

I am a believer, as blue cheese is my witness:

Blue Cheese Coleslaw
1 small head white/green cabbage
2/3 cup mayo
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 T whole grain mustard
2 tsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp celery salt
KS&CP (kosher salt & course pepper) to taste
2/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
1/3 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Slice Cabbage as thin as possible, removing cores. Blend mayo, mustards, salts, vinegar and pepper; stir dressing into cabbage, but do not drown it or heaven forbid: sog it (you can always add more dressing but you cannot take it out). Do not help promote the coleslaw stereotype. Add crumbled blue and parsley to blend. Will keep in fridge a few hours. You might want to tweak the amounts to your liking: I did.

I realize this salad repeats itself in restaurant after restaurant and home after home. It is a bit of a standby: mixed greens with candied pecans, blue cheese and cranberries. Sometimes pears sneak in to replace the cranberries, or sugared walnuts dance among the greens in place of pecans. It is a common thread to piece sweet and acidic, pungent and crunchy all in one plateful of goodness. It is, in the end, a very good idea.

That being said, you know that despite the redundant nature of this salad, it is far from boring—and I will always look for ways to make a recipe more efficient, by cutting corners and improving on taste where possible. I used to make candied pecans with a process that involved egg whites and brown sugar and the oven (plus a few other ingredients, though I cannot remember what). They tasted great, but it took awhile to make them. Then, years ago at a dinner party we had a similar salad; I asked how they made their pecans. I was overjoyed to find a little trick that has remained in my kitchen for years:

You candy the pecans with maple syrup over the stove. That’s it.

Basic Vinaigrette
2/3 cup olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (I use the handy, quick garlic press)
1 T minced fresh herbs OR 1 T dried Italian herbs
2 T either balsamic, port or sherry vinegar

Place dressing ingredients in a jar, screw on top, shake it all around.

Toss mixed greens, blue cheese and dried cranberries with dressing. Top with candied pecans. I didn’t put exact amounts, just figure in how many greens/cran/nuts/cheese will be needed per person/serving and go from there. To make the pecans: I throw about 1 cup pecans and 1/4 - 1/3 cup maple syrup (I eyeball it) in a small skillet over medium heat. Let it sizzle a bit, stirring to coat the nuts all for 5-8 minutes or so… off heat, let cool and add to salad. Enjoy!