Salad!

[hitmanoo]

I've become a fan of the home made Caesar salad. I've gotten to the point that I really don't need to order it in a restaurant anymore, with the occasional exception.

The last Caesar I had that clearly beat my own was at the Manor in W. Orange, NJ... I digress.

I've been tinkering with the recipe, using various types of anchovies, sometimes anchovy paste. I've also tried numerous types of dijon mustard, but I have yet to find a dijon mustard substitute like a powder or a seed.

It's a constant work in progress, but I am almost always delighted with the final product.

Sometimes with chicken or another meat, sometimes in a wrap, somtimes a handful of sundried tomatoes...

Oh, and lest I forget, much of it has to do with using the proper bowl. A good wooden bowl, used strictly for Caesar salad, becomes seasoned with the passing of time, contributing to a better salad with every use!

[LindaK]

Last week in the midst of a real cold snap, I made a very traditional salade frisee aux lardons--frisee salad with a warm, vinegary dressing, with bits of bacon, sprinkled with shallots, topped with a fresh, poached egg. bread and wine required accompaniment, fresh fruit to follow.

ordinarily, i'm of the fresh, vegetable variety salad, but as winter salad as "comfort food" goes, this one is great.

[Kent Wang]

Does anyone have any good salad dressing recipes?  And I mean recipes... I'm a little clueless when it comes to proportions!  I've been trying to make salad dressings more often so my boyfriend won't eat ranch dressing on everything,  but I haven't been that successful.  Last night, I made a dressing of white wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic, s & p, and a little bit of mustard.  It was a little too tart for me, so I added some honey, but it didn't make that big of difference.  The dressing was okay, but not fantastic.  I always have good salad dressings in restaurants... what do they use?  It always seems simple... maybe just really good balsamic and olive oil?  Maybe I just didn't like the white wine vinegar?  But, I tried a dressing with balsamic vinegar last week, and it was even worse!  Ideas?

←

There are heavier dressings like ranch, but I prefer light vinaigrettes. They're very simple, just vinegar and olive oil. I like to put some shallots and sometimes a bit of Dijon mustard in there too. It is essential to have a good vinegar. Look at some of my salads in this thread. I like to use flavored vinegars like black fig and champagne. The sweetness balances out the sour/tartness.

[JAZ]

Thin sliced cucumber, radish and shallot with julienned carrot and yellow pepper, tossed in a mustard-dill vinaigrette. With fried shrimp.

[Jason Perlow]

Insalata Caprese with heirloom tomatoes and fresh mozzarella from the Bronx. Yeah, its February all right! I don't know where the tomatoes came from but they sure were good.

[Rebecca263]

Tonight we had tabbouleh, but since I'm trying to empty the refrigerator we added some shredded red cabbage to ours. Since I adore scallions, we used 8! So:

6 lemons, juiced

3/4 c bulghur

8 scallions

6 plum tomatoes

2 large cucumbers

a large bunch of curly leaf parsley

1/4 head red cabbage

Chopped it all up, then drizzled it with olive oil. Waited as long as we could, althought we should have waited longer, and dug in! Plus, home made flat bread, for making boats.

Tomorrow I am attempting a salad with barley.

[billyhill]

Grilled romain with artichoke, heart of palm, homade croutons, "smoked capers", and parmesan. Topped with baslmic reduction and olive oil. I need to get a camera and some more photogenic plates.

[Anonymouze]

On the rare occasion I make something I have been told my salads are "killer salads" so I hope this is the right place to post this!

Aluminum turkey roaster pan (big as ya can get!) so you can throw away after!

4 heads of Iceberg (sometimes I add butter lettuce too!) cut into mouthsized pieces more or less....

2 jars marinated and 1 can or 2 cans of unmarinated artichoke hearts (blend together then strain off the oil!) less if you aren't fond of em... I AM!

1 container of cherry or grape tomatoes

1 huge kirby cuke (run a fork along the outside vertically then cut into slices)

1/2 pound or more of sundried tomatoes

1/2 or whole jar of roasted red peppers (sliced up)

1 can of sliced black olives (or slice them yourself... see if I care!)

1 big bag of dorito's chips (original style) MUSH it up into bits (crush that bag!)

2 containers of 7 seas creamy italian dressing

1 small bag of mccormicks or anyones taco seasoning mix

Mix this mess together in your pan, without the dressing...and with only 3/4 the bag of dorito's... toss with dressing right before you serve it and top with the rest of the dorito's chips.... voila. HEAVEN!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Tonight we had tabbouleh

so I hope this is the right place to post this!

Hoping that everyone who has posted their fantastic salad recipes will add them to our Recipe Gullet .. there they will get the respect they deserve and be easy for everyone to reference! Thanks for some terrific ideas!

[Khadija]

-baby spinach, thin slices of Asian pear, raw green beans, toasted pinenuts, shavings of parm-regg

-vinagrette: rice vingear, tiny bit of honey, EVOO, LOTS of microplaned garlic

-grey salt on top

The key is to make the vinagrette in the salad bowl and toss the pear and green beans with the vinagrette at ten minutes ahead of time so they "marinate." Then put everything else on top, toss at the last minute and serve.

My favourite salad. I eat this at least three times a week.

[mangosteen]

Inspired by this thread I strayed from my typical salad routine tonight and skipped the greens. I made a salad with thinly sliced fennel, pink grapefruit, avocados and a little bit of shallot. I dressed it with a simple mustard vinaigrette. Elegant and simple - I enjoyed it very much. Thanks for the inspiration.

Does anyone have any good salad dressing recipes?  And I mean recipes... I'm a little clueless when it comes to proportions!  I've been trying to make salad dressings more often ...

←

Katie

For vinaigrettes... the basic ratio I keep in mind is 3:1 for oil to vinegar. You can try many different vinegar and oil combinations depending on the ingredients of your salad. With less acidic vinegars, like balsamic, you can get closer to 2:1. You will have to figure out your style/taste. From there you can add an emulsifier like mustard and other flavorings such as garlic or fresh herbs. I would recommend mixing your dressing on the side and dipping a piece of lettuce in to taste as you go.

I hope that helps a little bit. Good luck!

[nocturnalsunshine]

For lunch I just had salad made in the 5 minutes before the bus rounded the corner.

Baby spinach and arugala

shreeded swiss cheese

a sliced chicken fried steak patty

thin strips of slice carrots

and a few salted pecans and walnuts.

And three ill-gotten girl scout cookies.

[JAZ]

For dinner last night, I made a caesar salad with seared scallops.

The scallops were great; the salad was good, but not great. I think I need help with my caesar dressing.

[snowangel]

For dinner last night, I made a caesar salad with seared scallops.

The scallops were great; the salad was good, but not great. I think I need help with my caesar dressing.

←

Janet, this looks beautiful!

What's missing from your caesar dressing? Maybe we can help.

[Kent Wang]

Micro-green salad

Greens: pre-made "Asian mix" micro-greens

Extras: marinated roasted tomatoes, goat cheese

Vinaigrette: blood orange vinegar, shallot, EVOO