At brunch, produce is often an afterthought. If you’re lucky, the restaurant may adorn your plate with a thin orange slice or feeble parsley sprig.
Not at North River in Manhattan. There, Chef Adam Starwicz, serves a massive vegetable-centric brunch salad that includes bacon, eggs, avocado, red onion, tomatoes, and a creamy-yet-light shallot-tomato dressing. This burly blend also offers up about 32 grams of protein a bowl, but you won’t likely take down the whole thing. Our advice: Pile on more hardboiled eggs. Each large hardboiled huevo contains about 6 additional grams of protein.
And hold the parsley sprig.
Big Brunch Salad
Recipe by Adam Starowicz, chef of North River in New York City
What you’ll need:
Juice from 5 tomatoes
2 shallots, minced
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp salt
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
½ cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Tbsp sliced chives
1 cup chopped cooked bacon (about ½ lb.)
2 romaine hearts, chopped
¼ large red onion, thinly sliced
1 hardboiled egg, quartered
½ avocado, sliced
How to make it:
1. Make the dressing. In a large bowl, whisk together the tomato juice, shallots, mustard, sugar, salt, red wine vinegar, mayonnaise, sour cream, and about 20 turns of a pepper mill. Once combined, slowly whisk in the olive oil. Refrigerate until ready to use. (The dressing makes about 1 quart and will last up to 2 weeks in your fridge.)
2. In a large bowl, toss together the cherry tomatoes, chives, bacon, romaine, onion, and 4 Tbsp of the reserved dressing. Top with the egg, avocado, and additional black pepper. Makes 4 servings.
