Tag: Tristan Wraight

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Knife & Fork Living

5 super summer salads: Easy-peasy recipes from local chefs

Ira Wallace of the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange gives the classic Cobb salad a Southern twist with black-eyed peas and toasted pecans. Photo: Staff

Summer is the time to eat your colors. Yellow corn is at its sweetest, red tomatoes their juiciest, and the greens are just as green as could be. We’ve rounded up salad recipes from five local chefs that showcase the season’s leading stars along with some unexpected guest appearances: a piquant pinch of mint or sweet burst of watermelon. As with any great summer salad, these are best served outside, on a generous plate, and with your favorite cold beverage. Mangia!

1) Southern-style Cobb salad with black-eyed peas

From Ira Wallace, education and variety selection coordinator, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange

A slight twist on the traditional Cobb salad, with toasted pecans and a Greek-yogurt blue-cheese dressing that you might want to slather on everything all summer.

Serves three to four

Ingredients

6 cups chopped romaine or mixed green lettuces

2 cups fresh black-eyed peas lightly simmered with 1/2 small onion, chopped, or 1 clove garlic, chopped

(Alternative: 1 15 oz. can seasoned black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed well)

3 hard-boiled eggs, quartered

1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped

2 boneless chicken breasts, grilled and cubed (optional)

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (substitute sharp, dry cheddar,
if desired)

1/2 cup fresh steamed sweet corn, kernels cut from cob, or thawed frozen sweet corn

1 sweet red pepper, cored, deseeded, and julienned

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced

Blue-cheese Greek-yogurt dressing

1/2 to 1 cup crumbled blue cheese

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

1 tbsp. mayonnaise

1 tbsp. minced fresh garlic

1 tbsp. white vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Add all dressing ingredients to large mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Place in container, cover, and refrigerate until chilled.

Place lettuce on platter. In separate rows, arrange chicken, black-eyed peas, red pepper, tomatoes, pecans, avocado, cheese, corn, and eggs on top of lettuce. Pass around dressing.

Pair with: A nice glass of sweet tea

 

Peloton Station’s Curtis Shaver likes his beer—and knows how to turn a salad into a meal. Photo: Tom McGovern

2) Steak and onion rings salad

From Curtis Shaver, general manager and chef, Peloton Station

This savory mélange would satisfy even the hungriest salad-as-a-main-course skeptic.

Serves two to four

Salad ingredients

2 7 oz. Seven Hills Food Co. flat iron steaks (also called shoulder top blade steak)

6 oz. local arugula

2 ears fresh corn

1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted,
and sliced

6 radishes, sliced thin

8 cherry tomatoes, halved

1 English cucumber, sliced thin

3 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

1 red onion, sliced into rings

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups flour, seasoned to taste (salt, pepper, paprika, and others as desired)

3 cups canola or other preferred oil for frying onion rings

Greek vinaigrette dressing ingredients

3 cups extra virgin olive oil

2 1/2 tbsp. garlic powder

2 1/2 tbsp. dried oregano

2 1/2 tbsp. dried basil

2 tbsp. black pepper

2 tbsp. sea salt

2 tbsp. onion powder

2 tbsp. dijon mustard

Instructions

Prepare grill. Oil, salt, and pepper steaks, and grill to medium rare. Set aside. Grill corn until charred and slice off kernels. Set aside. Heat frying oil to 375 degrees in deep skillet. Soak onion rings in buttermilk, remove from liquid, and toss in seasoned flour. Fry onions until golden brown, remove from oil, and drain.

Place all dressing ingredients except oil in blender and mix well. Slowly add oil to emulsify. Refrigerate until ready to serve salad.

In a large mixing bowl combine arugula, corn, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, and dressing. Divide mixture evenly among serving plates. Place avocado slices on salad. Slice steak on a bias and place on top of avocados. Finish by topping with onion rings.

Pair with: Champion Brewing Company True Love American Lager

Peppery arugula meets sweet roasted tomatoes in Forage chef Megan Kiernan’s creation. Photo: Tom McGovern

3) Roasted Sungold tomato and arugula orzo salad with pistachio pesto and blue cheese

From Megan Kiernan, product development chef and founder, Forage

Chef Kiernan calls this “the regular pasta salad’s more elegant cousin.” We agree that the recipe would impress guests at any picnic or dinner party.

Serves four

Ingredients

2 pints Sungold cherry tomatoes

1 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 lb. orzo

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

2 1/2 cups chopped arugula or
baby arugula

Salt and pepper to taste

Grilled or roasted chicken (optional), boned, and cut up any way you prefer

Pistachio pesto dressing

1/2 cup packed basil leaves

1 handful mint leaves

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shelled pistachios

2 small cloves (or one large clove) garlic

1/2 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil (or a bit more, to taste)

Salt to taste (at least 1/2 tsp.)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss tomatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place on sheet tray and roast for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 250 degrees and continue roasting for two hours, tossing occasionally.

Combine basil, mint, pistachios, garlic, lemon juice, and a big pinch of salt in a food processor. Blend well, periodically streaming in olive oil. Stop to taste. Add more salt and lemon juice as desired. If pesto is too thick, thin with additional olive oil.

Cook orzo following packaging instructions. Run under cool water while straining. Combine with pesto, adding heaping teaspoons to taste. Toss in arugula and red onions. Gently fold in tomatoes and blue cheese. Add more salt, pepper, or pesto as desired.

Pair with: Potter’s Craft Passion Fruit Mosaic cider

 

Unexpected bursts of flavor—fresh dill, fried sardines, hickory syrup—enliven this beauty from Oakhart Social’s Tristan Wraight. Photo: Tom McGovern

4) Sweet and salty summer salad

From Tristan Wraight, executive chef, Oakhart Social

“For me, I need a salad to have a sweet element, a salty element, and crunchy element,” says chef Tristan Wraight. Here, he rounds out the essentials with some soft herbs and an acidic dressing.

Serves four

Ingredients

2 cups watermelon, cubed (Wraight sources his from Pleasant Pasture Farms, in Virginia Beach.)

8 radishes, quartered (also from Pleasant Pasture)

1 cup Lunix (red oak-leaf) lettuce

1/4 cup shaved fennel

2 tbsp. sunflower seeds, sautéed until golden brown

1 tbsp. fried charales (or fried sardines) tossed in Old Bay Seasoning

Fresh Thai basil and dill to taste, chopped

Pinch of Maldon sea salt

Hickory-syrup vinaigrette

2 tbsp. shallots, minced

2 tbsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice

2 tbsp. fresh-squeezed lime juice

2 tbsp. hickory syrup (can also use Grade-A maple syrup)

1 cup grape seed oil

1 tsp. kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Soak minced shallots in lemon
and lime juice for 10 minutes. Add syrup and salt, and whisk in oil. Toss with salad ingredients in a large bowl.

Pair with: A dry white wine with mineral palate, like Albariño. Best local choice: Horton Vineyards 2017 Rkatsiteli

 

Pearl Island Catering chef Javier Figueroa-Ray balances the sweetness of watermelon and pineapple with the earthy flavors of kale and walnuts. Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith

5) Pearl Island summer salad

From Javier Figueroa-Ray, executive chef, Pearl Island Catering

Don’t forget the fruit! Pearl Island’s summer salad sweetens things up with tropical pineapple and the emblematic food of the season: fresh watermelon.

Serves four

Ingredients

8 oz. organic kale

8 oz. organic baby spinach

1 1/2 cups watermelon, cubed

1 1/2 cups fresh pineapple, cubed

1 cup carrots, grated (reserve some for garnish)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Shallot vinaigrette dressing

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp. dijon mustard

1 tbsp. fresh shallots, minced

1 cup brown sugar (or less, to taste)

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Place walnuts on baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, and roast at 350 degrees for five to ten minutes, or until fragrant.

In a large bowl combine kale, spinach, watermelon, pineapple, and carrots, and toss together.

Place dressing ingredients in blender and mix well, about one minute at high speed.

Transfer salad ingredients to platter, drizzle with dressing, and top with walnuts and carrots.

Pair with: Stinson Vineyard’s sauvignon blanc

Categories
Living

Five Finds on Friday with Alicia Walsh-Noel

Alicia Walsh-Noel, Manager of Brasserie Saison. Photo courtesy subject

Today’s Five Finds on Friday come from Alicia Walsh-Noel, manager of Brasserie Saison, which celebrates Sunday each week with  an “Eggs Benefit” brunch from 11am-3pm with live jazz and specials from the bar. A portion of proceeds goes to a different charity each month, and this month it is The Charlottesville Free Clinic. Walsh-Noel’s picks:

1) Kao Soi at Monsoon Siam. “This dish is an ultra comforting curry noodle soup. It’s the perfect juxtaposition of flavor and texture: the sweet curry to the funky pickled cabbage and onions and then the slurpy egg noodles to the crunchy noodle garnish. There’s a reason it’s not available from their to-go-go location—you have to eat it in the restaurant for the full experience. I crave this whenever it’s cold outside or I have a cold or when Antarctica is cold.”

2) Peanut Butter Pie at The Pie Chest and an Almond Latte from Lone Light Coffee. “If you didn’t already know about this place, when you’re walking up Fourth Street, the aromas will lure you into their door. When you enter, it’s as if you’ve been transported into a quaint New England town—there aren’t many places in Charlottesville that can do that. Tucked within The Pie Chest is Lone Light Coffee, which makes incredible coffee drinks and their own almond milk in-house. The stuff is delicious! I seriously have a hard time getting coffee anywhere else. Rachel Pennington, the owner/baker of The Pie Chest, is incredibly talented. You can’t go wrong with any of her sweet or savory pies but I really dig the peanut butter because it’s a little of both. The real deal-sealer is that the crust is PERFECT every time.”

3) Commander Chicory Blue Cheese from Twenty Paces. “So apparently studies are saying that cheese addictions are a real thing. I always blamed it on my French heritage but now even my doctor is telling me to stop! Le sigh. I first had this cheese at Lampo. Then again at Lampo. Then again. And then…well, my husband runs the kitchen at Champion Taproom and he put it on…get this: CHICKEN WING TACOS. OMG. I die now. Anyway, it’s stinky and smoky and I would most likely have it as my last meal.”

4) Whatever Lumpia is on special at Champion Tap Room. “Speaking of my husband, Jon Bray has this move where he puts things into Filipino egg roll wrappers and then fries them. Need I say more? Okay, I’ll say more. His original has ground pork and dates that he serves with garlicky vinegar sauce. But lately he’s been getting a little wild, making cheeseburger lumpia for a kids event and a buffalo chicken version another time. This week, it sounds like he’s going with a more traditional pork and shrimp version that should be tasty. Maybe it’s cheating to put your own spouse on this list, but if this is about a memorable and emotional connection to food, Jon’s super-creative twists on Filipino classics are both seared into my memory and make me so happy!”

5) Oyster Mushrooms and Grits at Oakhart Social. “I couldn’t possibly write a Five Finds without mentioning Oakhart. This place is like home to me, and I’m stoked at the love they have received so quickly from the Charlottesville community. It’s rare to find a chef that can execute vegetable dishes with the skill that Tristan does and these mushrooms are one of my faves! They make a delicious star of the show with pickles, buttery grits and crispy, fried chickpeas. Follow that up with all the Fernets and hugs for a foolproof Oakhart evening.”

This article originally appeared on C-VILLE’s At the Table columnist C. Simon Davidson’s website, The Charlottesville 29, Read more Five Finds on Fridays here.

Categories
Living

Oakhart Social’s chef knows no boundaries

Tyler Teass, chef at the new Brasserie Saison, honed his modern-cuisine chops at Rose’s Luxury, in Washington, D.C., and says Oakhart Social chef/owner Tristan Wraight, right, hits the mark in new American cuisine. Wraight’s vegetarian wife serves as his muse for dishes such as the twice-charred local carrots with pea shoots, sweet and spicy pecans and housemade buttermilk ranch dressing. Photos by Tom McGovern

I am old enough to remember when cooking was not cool. Before entire networks were devoted to it, cooking was relegated to the nerdy back room of public television. The prototypical chef was the bumbling Muppet Swedish Chef, while rock stars like Animal were the cool Muppets.

Today, chefs are the rock stars. And, cooking has never been cooler. While the effects of this trend have cut both ways, an unquestioned benefit is the birth of a new kind of American restaurant—casual and unfussy like the popular spots of the past, but where it’s okay to be passionate about food.

A premier example is Washington, D.C.’s Rose’s Luxury, once named best new restaurant in the country. Two decades ago, the notion of mobs of young people waiting for hours to eat at a restaurant would have been absurd, but that’s now the norm at Rose’s Luxury. Its former sous chef, Tyler Teass, formerly of Clifton Inn, just moved back to Charlottesville to run the kitchen of the new Brasserie Saison on the Downtown Mall. When he got back, I took him to our own exemplar of the new breed of restaurant, Oakhart Social, to see what he thought. And though there were thankfully no long lines, similarities to Rose’s were many.

Oakhart chef and co-owner Tristan Wraight came to town in 2014 from Chicago, one of the nation’s capitals of the new genre. And, he is a disciple of the new way—“more casual, more affordable and more inclusive.”

Not surprisingly, Teass loved Oakhart Social, which he says shares both design elements and service style with Rose’s Luxury. The sparse, comfortable space with brick walls painted all white was once an auto service station. “Very warm and friendly,” said Teass. Indeed, Rose’s Luxury is known for happy, caring servers who are genuinely passionate about the enterprise and their guests’ experience. Oakhart’s servers get it, too. 

As for the food, Wraight cooks whatever he likes without boundary. “I’m interested in tasting different dishes that are unrestrained by coursing, ethnicity or genre,” Wraight says. Instead of appetizers and entrées, the menu simply lists items from smallest to largest, allowing diners to choose whether to construct a traditional meal, or just order a bunch of things to share. We opted for the latter.

First came a gift from the kitchen, fluke crudo, Teass’ favorite dish of the night. Delicate slabs of Mid-Atlantic fluke, lightly brined in a solution of salt and sugar, joined dollops of salsa verde, with added crunch from toasted bread crumbs. “Very well-seasoned and simple,” praised Teass.

Next came Teass’ second-favorite dish of the night, wood-fired oysters. Oakhart Social has one of the only wood-burning ovens in town, and uses it for nearly everything. Here, Big Island pearl oysters from Monday Creek take a quick trip to the oven with bacon fat and citrusy, herby gremolata. When done, they receive a touch of seasoned panko for texture. “I normally don’t love warm oysters,” said Teass, “but those were really tasty.”

Wraight’s wife is vegetarian, and since she is his muse, vegetables are an inspired choice. “Vegetables are infinitely more versatile in flavor, texture and color than meat,” says Wraight. For a playful riff on peas and carrots, Wraight chars local baby carrots twice on the grill, and tops them with fresh pea shoots, sweet and spicy pecans and his own buttermilk ranch dressing. Delicious.

But Wraight loves meat too, and his current favorite dish, chicken liver mousse, came next. Livers of River Oak Farm chickens take an overnight milk bath before a quick sear, and are then blended with capers, sherry, mustard and butter until silky smooth. Served with Virginia apples, pickled shallots and grilled Albemarle Baking Company pain de campagne, the dish would make a great meal in itself.

Fried trout was the night’s best example of boundary-free cooking—not fusion, where a chef forcefully combines two cultures’ cuisines, but rather cooking without classification at all. A brined North Carolina trout is deep fried and served whole with a light pea and ginger purée, herb salad, shaved fennel, pickled chilis and fish-sauce vinaigrette.

“Guests expect so much out of restaurants nowadays,” said Teass after our meal. “And it’s a real challenge to hit the mark between casual and approachable and food that is well sourced, prepared, plated, executed and priced.” A challenge, yes. But Oakhart Social meets it.