(Food) Share your favorite Salad

[amarilla]

Things are getting warm in our neck of the city and I thought maybe we could share our favorite salad recipes and keep the kitchen from heating up.

Our current favorite is:

Oriental Salad

1 pkg brocoli slaw
1 pkg Ramen noodles, Oriental flavor
good handful of almonds (raw) (1/2c.)
1/2 c. salted sunflower seeds
3 T. vinegar (we use red wine)
1/2 c. oil
1/4 c. sugar

Toast the almonds and noodles that have been broken up for 10 minutes at 350.

Put broco slaw in a bowl and add the sunflower seeds. Mix the oil, sugar and vinegar and 1/2 of the Oriental seasoning packet in a measuring cup.

Let the almonds and noodles cool for a few minutes. Add everything to the broco slaw and seeds.

This is best eaten soon after it is made as the noodles get soggy.

A

 

[A.T.Hagan]

Fruit salad.

As many different fresh fruits of the season as you can get, tossed with a small amount of orange juice to keep the color, and well chilled.

If I'm really going all out I'll make up slightly sweetened yogurt dressing flavored with just a little vanilla.

.....Alan.

 

['plain o joe']

Marzetti's Blue Cheese Vinegrette

 

[Fly Girl]

I have no clue how to make it, but my favorite salad is this pea salad that my brother in law's mom makes. It has peas, bacon, cheese and mayonais or some kind of dressing and lettuce and I dont know what else, but IT ROCKS!!!!! I have Christmas at my house every year and she always makes that for me, and it is the best part about dinner, at least for me! I have tried to hint that I'd like the recipe, and all she ever says is "it is sooo easy!" and then changes the subject!!!! I crave that stuff, though!

 

[dharma]

Waldorf salad. Why base a salad on iceberg lettuce—all the taste and nutrition of cardboard—when you can base it on apples and walnuts?

Now I'm hungry.

 

[FreeYourMind]

tri-color rotini pasta
muenster cheese
green olives
green onions
hard boiled eggs
cubed ham
lots of mayo

warm or cold - mmm mmm good

 

[neosgirl]

Even though I'm not a fan of anchovies, this salad is delicious!

Green Salad - Italy - Taken from The Complete Round the World Cookbook @ 1954

1/2 c chopped green pepper
1/2 c chopped red pepper
2 tspn chopped parsley
1/2 c chopped fresh tomato
2 tbspn chopped celery
2 scallions sliced
6 radishes, chopped
1 tspn chopped anchovies (packaged in oil)
2 tbspns capers
1/2 tspn salt
1/4 tspn pepper
3 tbspn wine vinegar
1/2 c olive oil

Combine everything but the vinegar and oil in a big bowl. Add the vinegar mixing lightly. Add the olive oil very gradually, mixing thoroughly. Chill for about 1/2 hour or longer and serve!

 

[Deep Blue Dragon]

Here in central Texas, by the time the tomatoes ripen in our garden, the lettuce has bolted. So we make tomato and cucumber salad (by midsummer we always have an overabundance of each).

The salad is really the essence of simplicity: chop up equal amounts of tomatoes and cucumbers (I usually dice it into little cubes). Then on goes good quality olive oil and red wine vinegar, garlic salt and black pepper, and last of all minced fresh basil (also from the garden). I like it room temperature best, though the rest of my family likes it chilled.

 

[@pQlrppl]

FlyGirl~ Here's your pea salad:

Seven Layer Salad

6 cups chopped lettuce
salt and pepper
6 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
2 cups frozen peas, thawed
8 to 16 ounces bacon, crisp-cooked, drained, and crumbled
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded mild Cheddar cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup sliced green onion with tops
paprika

Place 3 cups of the lettuce in bottom of large bowl; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Layer egg slices over lettuce in bowl and sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Continue to layer vegetables in this order: peas, remaining lettuce, crumbled bacon, and shredded cheese, along with light sprinklings of salt and pepper. Combine mayonnaise and sugar; spread over top, spreading to edge of bowl to cover entire salad. Cover and chill 24 hours or overnight. Garnish with green onion and a little paprika. Toss before serving.
This salad serves 12 to 15.

 

[tropicalfish]

One of our favorites is my aunts Broccoli Salad. It is really refreshing and yummy.

Broccoli Salad

1 stalk broccoli
1 cup raisons
1 cup bacon bits
1 cup sunflower seeds

Dressing:

1 cup miracle whip
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar

Mix together and refrigerate.
Hint: I found it better to put the dressing on right before serving. It keeps the salad crispier.

 

[housemouse]

While on the salad topic, does anyone know how the bagged lettuce mixes you can buy at the market is treated to stay so crisp?

I would like to figure out how best to harvest my home-grown lettuce, wash and dry it so that it will keep in the fridge for a day or so, and keep that just picked crispness.

I have one of those salad spinner thingies, and still dry the lettuce after spinning it, but want it even drier than that.

Best tips desired, and thanks in advance.

 

[Freeholdfarm]

I like the Seven-Layer Salad, too, and Waldorf, and fruit salad, and jello salads (which are usually more like a dessert). Also Caesar Salad, and Chef Salad, and just about any kind of salad that doesn't have wheat-based pasta in it (can't eat wheat). On the rare occasions when we eat out it's usually lunch because we are doing errands in town and it's too far to just run home -- we go to this little pizza place with a salad bar and get the salad plate, all you can eat. Usually stuffed the rest of the day!

Kathleen

 

[Aragona]

Fennel-Orange Salad

For something different and refreshing:

Fennel - Orange Salad (for two people)

1 fennel bulb - trimmed
1 large navel orange - cold, peeled, no pith
1 small sweet onion - peeled

Slice fennel into 1/4 inch long/round slices, slice onion thin, and slice the orange into 4 thick round slices.

Grill the fennel and onion slices. I use a grill pan on the stove with a dribble of olive oil. Cook until a slight char and limp but still a little crispy.

Arrange alternate slices of fennel, orange and onion on a platter. Drizzle with a little good balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Sprinkle with a touch of salt and pepper.

This is good at room temperature too.

--aragona

 

[Tweakette]

I had a version of this salad in a restaurant and it was GREAT. I went home and then recreated it. It's approximate, so taste it as you go (other than when I'm baking I rarely measure).

Tomatoes with caramelized red onion

1 large beefsteak tomato, sliced into slabs
About 1/4 of a red onion sliced into paper-thin rings
1 tsp oil
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
sprinkle of salt
sprinkle of pepper
2 tbsp or so of crumbled blue cheese

Heat the 1 tsp of oil in a cast iron skillet on about medium. When skillet is very hot and well-oiled fling the onion rings into it and quickly cook about 30 seconds to a minute on each side, to caramelize them.
Take them out of the skillet, put on a plate, and put in the freezer until cold (or fridge if you're patient - I'm not). Don't freeze them, though.
In another bowl mix the olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper.

On a plate, arrange the tomato slices alternating with the red onion. Pour the vinagrette over the mound of tomato/onion, then top with the crumbled blue cheese.

Serves 1 (I can easily eat this as a meal).

I've also made this with halved cherry tomatoes (mixed red and gold is very good). If you do that cut the onion rings into quarters, rather than leaving them whole, and mix them together instead of trying to stack them.

DH and I eat piles of this in the summer.

Tweak

 

[Libertarian]

chop onion and tomatoes. sprinkle of oregano. add kalamata olives and crumbled feta cheese. drizzle virgin olive oil and lemon juice all over. add black pepper if you want.