Imagination and Creativity Culinary Style ~ By Jeff Davis

When I was a little boy I loved to watch a British chap on tv who seemed to be having a ball while he worked. He was Graham Kerr, the Galloping Gourmet; even his name was fun and dealt with food; that was when I was 8 years old, now 40 years later chefs of both genders can become as famous and revered as actors or musicians. Thanks to our apparent insatiable appetite for reality tv, producers are intent on giving us as many regurgitations of "Top Chef" as we can stomach. I believe there will be fame and fortune awaiting not only the next great celebrity chef, but also pride for he who brain-childs the next creative and innovative way to utilize their own local resources, as well as their intuitive abilities and welcome their own internal culinary wizard into their living rooms and kitchens.

The issue here is ingenuity, even Einstein proclaimed to prefer imagination over intelligence; and with that in mind, embrace your own imagination and I'd like to share a little of mine with my own recession-proof recipe for Sicilian Bread Salad.

Sicilian Bread Salad

What you need for the salad:

~ one loaf black olive Italian bread
~ 1 1/2 pint Bleu Cheese crumbles
~ three large eggs - hardboiled, cooled and peeled
~ one large ripe tomato

For the dressing:

~ 1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar
~ 1tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
~ 1/2 tsp. A-1 sauce
~ 2 Tblsp. pesto (if you don't have pesto use one Tblsp. fine, minced fresh basil)
~ 1 Tblsp. Dijon mustard
~ 1 1/2 cup virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dice 1/3 of the olive loaf into 1" or 2" cubes and toast the cubes to make croutons, by spreading the cubes on an oiled cookie sheet and baking for ten minutes. Let bread cool. Dice the eggs into pieces about 1/2 inch to 1". Dice the tomato into similar size.

Add all the dressing ingredients except olive oil in a medium mixing bowl; then slowly whisk in the olive oil, so the dressing emulsifies or becomes a uniform consistency. Fold in the salad ingredients gently so as not to mash the egg completely. Salt and Pepper to taste. Either serve immediately, or refrigerate for no more than an hour. If it sits too long the croutons will become soggy.