Parties That Cook’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Potluck Recipe: Butter Lettuce Salad with Berries, Lardons and Tarragon Crème Fraiche Dressing

This weekend is BIG. In San Francisco, there’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, which brings dozens of musicians to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park for three days of free performances. In Seattle, Parties That Cook is hosting a public Cooking Farm to Table Class at Willie Green’s Organic Farm! How are they related, you ask? There will be food trucks at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, but what puts this music festival over the top is Coach B’s Healthy Potluck. Guidelines request organic food, the freshest ingredients, and seasonal dishes. This recipe for a delicious Butter Lettuce Salad with Blackberries, Lardons and Tarragon Crème Fraiche Dressing will be featured at this weekend’s Seattle Cooking Farm-to-Table, and fits those guidelines to a tee!

Butter Lettuce Salad with Blackberries, Lardons and Tarragon Crème Fraiche Dressing

Ingredients:
Dressing:
1/2 cup crème fraiche
1/4 cup Greek-style yogurt
2 Tablespoons fresh tarragon coarsely chopped
2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 Tablespoons water (if needed)

Salad:
6 ounces thick-cut bacon, cut into 1-inch-wide pieces (to form lardons)
1 cup fresh blackberries or raspberries
2 heads butter lettuce (about 8 oz. total)

Methods/Steps:
Dressing: In a medium bowl, whisk together the crème fraîche, yogurt, chopped tarragon, garlic, lemon zest, juice, salt and pepper. If the dressing is a bit stiff, stir in water to thin the mixture to a creamy salad-dressing consistency.

Lardons: Cook bacon in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until browned and crisp, about 12 minutes. Pour off the fat as you go to help the browning. Transfer to a paper towel to absorb some of the grease.

Assemble Salad: Prepare blackberries. Wash and dry lettuce and break it into bite-size pieces. Toss the lettuce lightly with half the dressing. If salad looks dry, add more dressing. Put salad on plates and garnish with berries and lardons. Serve immediately.

Serves 8

Recipe created by Parties That Cook® | www.PartiesThatCook.com

Parties That Cook Heats Up the Kitchen with Chef Michael Chiarello

Earlier this month, guests attended what they thought was our normal Kitchen Challenge event. Little did they know that they would be joined and later judged by none other than Chef Michael Chiarello! You may remember that we featured his book, Bottega, in a past cookbook club, but if not, get the scoop here!

Chef Chiarello skipped a big introduction and surprised the guests by simply sneaking in and wandering around the kitchen while the teams were cooking. Try holding your composure when you have such an accomplished chef-lebrity walking around!

After the cooking, teams elected a spokesperson to present their dishes to Chef Chiarello one at a time. The spokesperson from each team explained why their team should win while our guest judge took his time tasting each dish. Chef Chiarello then thoroughly described what he liked about each dish and what the teams could do differently next time. (One of the keys to great cooking is making sure certain flavors do not overpower others!)

From the Moroccan Bisteeya to the Mexican Chocolate Chipotle Cookies with Smokey Salted Caramel Centers, it was a great menu. Everyone gave a valiant effort, but ultimately, the winner was the Mini Arepas with Oaxaca Cheese and Jalapeno Marmalade team — by a margin of 1 point! At the end of the event Chef Chiarello stuck around and was nice enough to sign cookbooks and take photos with guests (and Rosie). I’m sure everyone at PTC wished they could have been a part of this event!

Which celebrity chef would YOU like to see at a Parties That Cook event? Would your team be able to keep their cool under the pressure from this guest judge? Let us know!