flatiron, iceberg lettuce quarter, blue cheese dressing

I concluded Emilene's blue cheese dressing is blue cheese + buttermilk. My friend said he used to make it and they used mayonnaise too. My mayonnaise has a lot of mustard and garlic so I included it. It was excellent.  I did not use the cream cheese pictured because when I opened the package I saw I'd have to trim it heavily and I didn't feel like it, plus it would have diluted the flavor anyway without adding anything significant. So I tossed it. 

This is one of my favorite new things. If you ever see flatiron cut in your grocer's cooler, just toss it in your basket. You won't regret it. The thing is, the dry rub is entirely extemporaneous so it never tastes quite the same any two times, and that is the glory and the power you wield as extemporaneous cook. Anything less, and you are slave to proven recipe. 

Tortillas were made with regular masa harina (powdered alkaline-treated corn meal) and pressed in a common cast-aluminum press, heated in a hot pan for seconds, as much time as it takes to press the next tortilla. One cup hot water + 1 and 3/4 cup masa harina = 13 small tortillas. 

iceberg lettuce quarter

Loser lettuce. All dressed up and no place to go. Except mah stuuuuh-mik. Devoid of nutrients but full of crunch and healthful live microflora.

Did you know that aquarists soak a few leaves of this lettuce in tank-water for a few days at room temperature and allow the deteriorating leaves to produce microorganisms in order to feed tiny newborn fry? It's true. Search [+aquarium +infusoria +lettuce] to confirm this (I don't care to link to a page that might later disappear).

Dressing is:

• Olive oil in a bowl

• Dijon mustard, a daub plopped in the bowl. Do not lick the spoon, you'll need it.

• Raspberry preserves, another daub plopped in the bowl

Now there is a bowl with plops of thick and viscous substances, unctuous, tart, and sweet, that lacks only one thing -- an acid.

• Acid of choice delicately and carefully measured into the bowl. Carefully measured. Hahahah. That kills me. Actually, I did measure it because I had the teaspoon right there that was used to scoop the mustard and the raspberry preserves. So why not? Two teaspoons of cider vinegar. Incidentally, this is the first time I ever bought cider vinegar. I picked it up to clean the windows then on a whim decided to use it for this. It's not at all bad. People say it tastes of cider, but I don't get that.

• Salt, pepper, mixed dry Italian seasoning.

Whisk. Taste test even though you're certain it's already perfect. It's what we cooks do. It instills confidence in the imaginary person observing over your shoulder.

• Croutons made from homemade bread. Fried in a pan with gobs of olive oil and powdered garlic.

• Shaved Parmigiano.

• A tablespoon of prepared kimchi to the side.

• Hothouse tomato. The package said it was a hothouse but for all I know it could have been a warm house.

• Brittany gray sea salt, so exceedingly high in minerals you can taste 'em in there.

iceberg lettuce

I haven't bought an iceberg lettuce since ... um ... ever. This is the lettuce I grew up with. My mum, bless her, put together the most depressingly unimaginative salads you ever saw. This lettuce, discs of sliced tomato, discs of sliced cucumber. That's it. Bottled salad dressings were kept in the refrigerator door. Setting the table in preparation for dinner meal involved grabbing all the bottles of salad dressing at once and carrying them by their necks clanging together like glass bells to the table. Everybody had their personal choice of dressing.

Then I forgot all about those childish ways.

Much later at a dinner party at a friend's house they did that -- collect a bunch of prepared bottled commercial dressings by their necks and brought them clanging to the table. I burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" Caught off guard, embarrassed, I couldn't answer. But it's still funny.

Now Althouse linked a story posted on NYT online by Mark Bittman, The Charms of the Loser Lettuces that included an attractive photo of iceberg. It looked great. Within the comments to the post on Althouse a member commenter, Paul, wrote sagely:

The reason Iceberg lettuce is such a good choice, in spite of being derided for a lack of nutrients in recent years, is that it is rich in intestinal flora and an aid to digestion. One more piece of traditional wisdom, albeit a small one, that the lefty boomers in their juvenile desire to remake and improve society tossed aside.

Bloody wow. That describes me to a tee (whatever a tee is) even though I'm not a lefty boomer, I don't think. Well then, presented with this new information, that's all I need to march right out there and get me one. So I did. It's crunchy and delicious and I can just feel myself all filled with intestinal flora that's helping with the digestion -- of what? -- of the lettuce and dressing, of course!