A nice tasting salad with a few modern presentation ideas!
Exotic salad presentations are en vogue these days. The stranger, the bettor seems to be the rule of thumb. Exotic modern salad presentations require combinations of height, texture, color, shapes and flavors that are displayed in a dramatic fashion. The element of surprise becomes part of the eye appeal, when a modern salad is served. This recipe has two different complimentary salads that are meant to be combined. One salad is kept separate in a modified tonnelet cucumber. Tonnelet: Tonnelet is an old French knife skill word that translates to tunnel shape. Tonnelet vegetables are usually used as cups or they are stuffed. The same goes for tonnelet potatoes. Perfection tonnelet requires a perfectly round even cylinder shape. Artisan or asian style tonnelet usually have many flat knife cuts that give the appearance of a round cylinder shape. This style of tonnelet cylinder can have an outside surface with a hexagon shape or many more flat sides. A multi sided tonnelet does have an exotic modern space age look. The cylinder wall of a tonnelet cut should be about 1/4" to 3/8" thick. The inside tube of a tonnelet cylinder can be formed with a paring knife. The hollow tube is easier to shape with an apple coring tool. For a peeled soft vegetable like a cucumber, a small sharp edged spoon can be used to scrape out the seeds and form the inner tube shape of the cylinder at the same time. Only the middle section of a large straight cucumber is good for making a perfect tonnelet. If the end of a cucumber is used, the tonnelet shape will taper towards the end. A tapering tonnelet cucumber is nice for a vertical presentation. A slightly tapering tonnelet cucumber was used for the presentation in the photographs. Modified Tonnelet: Slots or holes can be carved into a tonnelet shape for an open airy style presentation. The salad that is stuffed in the tonnelet can be partially viewed this way. An apple coring tool can be used to cut a pattern of holes in a cucumber tonnelet to create a "swiss cheese" effect, just like the modified cucumber tonnelet in the photographs.
Asian Snow Pea, Carrot and Vietnamese Perilla Salad Stuffed Tonnelet Preparation: The tonnelet is modified for this salad. The tonnelet keeps the accompanying complimentary salad separate from the main salad on the plate. The salad stuffed cucumber tonnelet is designed to compliment and combine with the Cilantro Lime Sunburst Tomato Beef salad on the plate at the customer's leisure. Use the description above as a guide to carving a modified slightly tapering tonnelet shape out of a cucumber. Use an apple coring tool to modify the finished tapering tonnelet shape with a pattern of holes, so the salad can be seen inside. Chill the finished modified tonnelet cucumber. Blanch 5 or 6 snow peas in salted boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds. Remove the blanched snow peas from the hot water and cool them under cold running water. Very thin julienne slice the snow peas. Place the fine julienne sliced snow peas in a small mixing bowl. Add a few very thin julienne slices of carrot. (The amount of carrot should be about half of the snow peas.) Add sea salt and white pepper. Add 2 pinces of sugar. Add 1/2 teaspoon of rice wine vinegar Add 1/4 teaspoon of ginger paste. Add 1/4 teaspoon of sesame oil. Add 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable oil. Add 1/2 of one leaf of Vietnamese perilla that is chiffonade sliced. Toss the ingredients together. Chill the salad, till it is needed later in the recipe.
Cilantro Lime Sunburst Tomato Beef Salad: Season a 4 ounce to 5 ounce piece of sirloin steak or top round steak with sea salt and white pepper. Heat a saute pan over medium/medium high heat. Add 1 small splash of vegetable oil. Add the seasoned beef. Sear the beef on all sides, till it becomes lightly browned and cooked to the temperature of your preference. Remove the seared beef steak from the pan and place it on a wire rack. Allow the seared steak to rest and cool to room temperature. Bias cut the steak into thin slices. Cut the sliced beef into uniform bite size shapes. Place the sliced seared steak into a mixing bowl. Add 10 to 12 yellow sunburst tomatoes that are cut in half. Add 1 thin bias sliced green onion. Add 1 teaspoon of lime juice. Add 1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar. Add sea salt and white pepper. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of cilantro that is chiffonade sliced. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Toss the ingredients together. Set the salad aside. Salads of Cilantro Lime Sunburst Tomato Beef and Asian Snow Pea Carrot Perilla Stuffed Cucumber Tonnelet: Loosely stuff the Asian Snow Pea Carrot Perilla Salad inside of the modified tonnelet cucumber. Place the stuffed tonnelet cucumber vertically on a plate. Garnish the top of the stuffed tonnelet cucumber with a couple of green onion slivers. Place the Cilantro Lime Sunburst Tomato Beef Salad on the plate next to the stuffed cucumber. Try to arrange the salad so some of the beef steak slices are exposed. Garnish the plate around the face of the Cilantro Lime Sunburst Tomato Beef Salad with thin lime slices that are cut in half. Place a sprig of cilantro next to the stuffed cucumber and the beef salad. This is a nice simple presentation of the finished stuffed tonnelet cucumber salad and beef salad. Use you imagination if you wish to present these two salads together in an even more creative way! The point of this recipe was to introduce tonnelet cut vegetables for salad presentations. Yum! ... Shawna
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