By Valentine's Day. The plan worked. Simone took the kids to her parents' house in Lafayette (Angelle's house — family babysitting, the best kind). And I cooked. The house was mine from 5 PM, and I did something I rarely do: I cooked slowly, quietly, with music on, for one person. For Danielle.
The menu: a seared duck breast with a fig and port wine sauce, roasted fingerling potatoes, and a spinach salad with goat cheese and pecans. Not Cajun. Not even Southern, really. Something different. Something that says "I see you as more than the woman who manages our lives; I see you as the woman I fell in love with, who can two-step better than anyone I've ever met, who said no once to keep me humble." I set the table with the good plates — the ones we got for our wedding that live in the cabinet and come out twice a year. Candles. A bottle of red wine that the guy at Calandro's recommended and that cost more than I wanted to spend and less than Danielle is worth.
She walked in at 7:30. She'd changed clothes at Angelle's — Angelle was in on it — and she was wearing a dress I hadn't seen before, and her hair was down, and she looked at the table and the candles and the plates and she looked at me and she said, "Tommy Beaumont." Just my name. Just my full name, the way she says it when she's feeling something too big for a sentence. And I said, "Sit down, sha." And she sat.
The duck was perfect. Scored the skin in a crosshatch, cooked skin-side down in a cold pan, rendered the fat slowly, flipped once. The fig and port sauce — figs from Mama's tree (preserved, from the jars), port wine, a splash of balsamic, reduced until it was thick and glossy and tasted like everything autumn wishes it could be. Danielle took one bite and closed her eyes. "Tommy." Just my name again. I'll never get tired of the way she says my name when the food is right.
We ate. We talked. Not about the kids or the schedule or the mortgage. About us. About Breaux Bridge. About the early years. About the flood and the cottage and the things we've built and the things we've survived. She told me she was scared, sometimes, that the insomnia would break me. I told her it wouldn't. She said, "Promise?" and I said, "Promise," and I meant it more than I meant it when Colette asked the same thing about the house during the flood. Because Danielle's promise is the first one. The original. The one that holds all the others up. We'll start over. We always start over. And the starting always begins at a table, with a candle, with food that someone made with their whole heart.
That spinach salad with goat cheese and pecans — the one that sat beside the duck and the port wine sauce on those good wedding plates — was never meant to be the centerpiece, but it held its own all night. A great salad for a dinner like that isn’t an afterthought; it’s the thing that tells someone you thought about every part of the table. This gourmet green salad with a homemade red wine vinaigrette is the version I reach for when the evening matters — the kind of salad that earns its place next to the candles.
Gourmet Green Salad with Homemade Red Wine Vinaigrette
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 15 min | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 6 cups mixed gourmet greens (spinach, arugula, and butter lettuce)
- 1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted
- 3 oz goat cheese, crumbled
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries or sliced fresh strawberries
- 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- For the Red Wine Vinaigrette:
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Toast the pecans. In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast the pecan halves for 3—4 minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant and lightly golden. Remove from heat and let cool completely.
- Make the vinaigrette. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, minced garlic, honey, salt, and black pepper. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking constantly until the dressing is emulsified and glossy. Taste and adjust seasoning.
- Assemble the salad. In a large salad bowl, combine the mixed greens, red onion, cherry tomatoes, and cranberries or strawberries. Drizzle with the desired amount of vinaigrette and toss gently to coat every leaf.
- Top and serve. Divide the dressed greens among plates. Top each serving with toasted pecans and crumbled goat cheese. Serve immediately alongside your main course.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 6g | Fat: 26g | Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 290mg