Fried Salami, tomato and pesto salad

Discovery new dishes I can recreate back home is one of my favorite things to do when traveling.  The simpler the dish, the better as entre nous I am a lazy cook. Here’s a perfect example.   

Back in the mid-90s on one of our trips to Paris, Ed and I ventured out to Taillevent’s less expensive outpost called Les 110 de Taillevent on Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré. (Taillevent was, and still is, one of the most elegant, highly esteemed, and expensive restaurants in Paris.)  

We selected le menu, always the most economical approach to dining in France. Our first course was a simple salad of fresh microgreens topped with pieces of fried salami. What? Fried salami? This is what my Italian American father used to use for making sandwiches. How pedestrian! Ed and I looked quizzically at one another wondering “What was the chef thinking?” 

In fact, the chef knew exactly what he was doing. This magnificently simple preparation was an exercise in culinary transformation. You, too, can do this at home to impress your friends. Just drop slices of salami into a very hot pan and watch how their edges curl. Within mere seconds, you’ll have something remarkably delicious: salty, crisp, and chewy with a powerfully concentrated flavor. Perfect for adding to salads, omelets, or pasta, its use is only as limited as your imagination. But remember to drain your slices of fried salami on paper towels before doing anything with them! 

This dish is so simple that it requires no recipe.  Just slice up some fresh tomatoes, alternate with slices of fried salami and top with pesto and a handful of chopped celery.  Simplicity and deliciousness at its best. However, if you want to be fancy, included below is my recipe for homemade pesto which was published here several years ago.

 Genovese Pesto Sauce

Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons pine nuts (Be sure to taste before making recipe as pine nuts go rancid quickly.)

2 cups fresh basil leaves

2 large garlic cloves

Pinch of sea salt and several grindings of freshly ground black pepper

½ cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano

¼ cup grated Pecorino Romano  

½ cup Extra-virgin olive oil

Cooking instructions:

1.    In a skillet, roast pine nuts until golden, 2-3 minutes over medium heat.

2.    Clean basil leaves and remove from stems. Spin dry and set aside.

3.    Place pine nuts, basil, garlic, sea salt and black pepper in a food processor and process to a paste. Add cheeses and pulse several times. With the food processor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil through the beaker.

4.    Use immediately or store in a container, topped with a thin layer of olive oil, in the refrigerator or freezer.

Makes: 1 cup

Wine recommendations:  Pigato (a white wine from Liguria), Vermentino, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, or Gruner Veltliner. Pinot Noir also works beautifully to cut the fat in the salami.