[Intro music]
This is a perfect salad to help you
to practice your knife skills,
such as slicing, julienne cutting
and chopping.
You are also going to make a
classical French vinaigrette.
To make a tomato and vegetable julienne
salad you will need:
tomatoes, julienne or cucumber, carrot,
red and yellow bell peppers, little bit of parsley,
green onion, olive oil, vinegar,
seasoning with salt and freshly ground peppercorns,
and shallot. Make the julienne.
I used a slicer machine, a mandolin,
in order to cut into thin slices.
Cut the cucumber, but do not use the seeds,
so you just stop.
You cut the pulp and you don't use the seeds.
There we go.
Here this is a slice where there is no seeds,
so we could use it all. [slicing sounds]
Then julienne the carrots. [slicing sounds]
So position your finger as you learned
in the vegetable cut course.
Fingertips away from the blade.
And julienne the bell peppers.
So I have to remove the pulp of the bell pepper
to make it very thin, like so.[cutting sounds]
When you are julienning your bell peppers,
make sure you put them skin side down
in order to slice through the skin. [slicing sounds]
To make a classic vinaigrette, you will need:
salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, and vegetable oil,
usually sunflower, canola oil, peanut oil,
extra virgin olive oil or grape seed oil.
Today we are going to use extra virgin olive oil.
The key to make a good vinaigrette is to respect
the ratio between the acid, being the vinegar, and the oil.
It doesn't matter if you're doing a cup,
a liter, a tablespoon, or a teaspoon.
It's always one part of acid, three parts of oil.
So today we are going to use one tablespoon of vinegar
for three tablespoons of oil.
That way you will always have a well-balanced vinaigrette.
Very flavorful.
So place the seasoning into the bowl, salt and pepper.
Add the acid, the vinegar.
That way your salt will be totally
dissolved by the acid.
Whisk. [whisking sound].
Then whisk in the olive oil slowly. [whisking sound]
Taste. The vinaigrette has a kick.
It's very tasty. Perfect.
It will be full of flavor to season our vegetables.
Wash your tomato before using it.
Then remove the core.
Cut your tomato using a serrated knife.
Place the core side facing the blade
or facing the knife.
Then cut your tomato in very thin slices. [slicing sound]
Make sure your tomatoes are ripe,
but not over ripe.
Not ready for tomato sauce for example.
Not too soft because otherwise you will
have a hard time cutting them.
When your tomatoes are sliced then plate it.
So take the tomato in your hand
and place the slices on top of each other
by overlapping them.
I'm using a large plate.
This is a 14 inches plate because I like to
have a lot of room to plate.
With a paring knife you may move the slices
to position them nicely.
Brush the slices with the dressing.
Making sure to mix the vinegar very well
as the vinegar is heavier than the oil.
Then add your vegetable julienne into the dressing.
Toss it in the vinaigrette.
Making sure to mix all the colors together.
Then with your fingers grab a small handful of
julienne salad. Place it in the center of the plate
and bring it up, you know, just like so.
Just to get some height.
Cut the shallot in half. And slice it finely.
[slicing sounds]
Separate the shallot rings
and sprinkle over the tomato slices.
Then prepare the green onion.
So for the green onion I have trimmed both ends
and I have washed them thoroughly.
Cut the onion in half where the white and the green start.
Place the white and green onion parts side by side and slice.
That way you will get both flavors
from the white part of the onion and from the green part.
Good.
Then sprinkle over the tomato slices.
And then chop some parsley.
So, here I'm using Italian parsley,
but you may use regular parsley.
If parsley's not available at home,
you may use chopped chives, basil, cilantro.
Any fresh herbs, but please do not use
dried parsley or dried herbs.
They don't taste that good, especially in the fresh salad
and healthy salad like this today.
So add the parsley.
Clean the plate. Very important.
This is the last finishing touch in plating.
Tomato and julienne salad with a classic vinaigrette.
Bon Appetit.