What is your favorite salad?

[etalanian]

This thread is really making me hungry.

My faves in order of preference:

Cobb - but with blue cheese dressing

Wilted Spinach, bacon fat and all

Caesar - wellconstructed

But I'll eat just about any salad. I could live on salad.

Eileen

[christine007]

I pretty much do live on salad, especially in the summer. Growing up with a vegetarian mom has it's advantages, one of which, is a love of all salads.

I'd pick mixed greens, raw broccoli, shredded cheddar, onions, raisins, walnuts and pears in blue cheese.

Having said that, I still have a nostalgic fondness for jello salads of all kinds, especially the walnut/black cherry one.

Cobb andCeasar are awesome too.

so is taco salad.

Wait, I guess I didn't really pick, did I?

[Verjuice]

If I could only have one salad for the rest of my life, then my choice would have to be a bowl of tender lettuces tumbled with the greenest, fruitiest olive oil, and a generous sprinkle of Maldon salt. Keep it simple.

A couple of other favorites:

-Rocket + cucumber + tomato + red onion + pomegranate molasses, olive oil, s+p.

-A friend makes an amazing salad of baby spinach, maple-roasted sweet potatoes, bacon, curry oil, pistachios. Fresh raspberries optional.

-My aunt's salad drissing, which is a dark sweet puree of balsamico, olive oil, capers, red onions, garlic, mustard, s+p- on just about any vegetable.

-Crab and avocado with aoili and saffron oil.

-Frisee with lardons.

I prefer acid elements other than lemon juice to dress my greens. I always find it a bit abrasive compared to the alternative possibilities.

[project]

Caesar!

[Rebecca263]

The truth is I'll eat almost any salad, but if I HAD to choose only one, it would be this: the salad my father used to make in the late70's- finely chopped, lettuces, cucumbers, scallions, radishes, artichoke hearts and tomatoes all mixed with a boatload of blue cheese and a vinaigrette. I want that salad served to me in the 'kid' punch bowl just as he used to serve it, and I want to eat it in our old kitchen ... otherwise, whatever salad those other folks on this thread said is fine with me.

[laurelm]

Caprese salad and a greek village salad, yummmmm

[Mikeb19]

First off, a WELL done Insalata Cesar is a beautiful thing, very hard to find though. As is an Insalata Caprese (with buffalo cheese). Another real good one I had was a walnut dressing and pear salad. The real key to a good salad is finding good lettuce/herbs/weeds to put into it, and a vinaigrette with a good balance of acidity and fat. And make sure to season the salad, nothing worse than a bland salad. One of the best salads I've had was simply mesclun, herbs, and a lemon/herb vinaigrette.

[ruthcooks]

Favorite green salad: wilted lettuce with lettuce from the garden

Otherwise I like green salads with lots of stuff in them like fruits, nuts, cheese, green onions, roasted meats, chopped eggs, bacon and homemade croutons.

Favorite composed salad: Salad Nicoise with good French bread

Also rans: my mother's Sugar Slaw; kidney bean salad with cheese, pickle relish, onion, chopped eggs and mayo; Caesar (not any old, but perfectly done tableside as made at Cardini's); Broccoli Salad with Tomato-Onion Mayonnaise; potato salad of every kind, but especially with old-fashioned cooked dressing; various Jell-O or gelatin concoctions which I usually eat as dessert.

[spaghetttti]

When I was younger, I had never been much of a salad eater, but as time goes on, I realize I can appreciate a good salad every now and then. Salad greens tossed or topped with creamy or simple oil and vinegar dressings can sometimes really enhance my appetite.

My favorite is an Indonesian salad of greens, cukes and sprouts tossed in a spicy peanut sauce, in West Java it's called lotek, the running joke in our family is that it may be low-tech but it's definitely high taste .

Here it is served in the mortar or coet in which it was made.

[...tm...]

Lotek looks like it would be right up my alley. Thanks for sharing the tempting pictures. Do you have a recipe? I tried googling and was only ably to come up with this. Does it seem reasonable?

I have never heard of zeodary before, or seen it being sold. Is it an essential taste in the salad? I see it is described as "white tumeric". Are the flavors similar?

[spaghetttti]

...tm..., I apologize, all this time I've been miscalling this salad, it should be karedok. This is the karedok recipe that I use.

Never heard it called zedoary before. Our name for that particular spice/root is kencur. In the link look down at the fingerroot, you can see that it is slimmer and smaller in comparison, but IMO kencur has a slightly stronger taste than that of ginger or galangal. A little definitely goes a long way.

Edited July 11, 2006 by spaghetttti (log)

[...tm...]

Thanks for the recipe link--it looks great. I might have to substitute galangal for the kencur, but I'll definately try it out soon.

[gini]

I eat salad every day for lunch. My all time favorites:

1. Chevre Chaud

2. Curried mango quinoa salad

3. Corn & Barley salad

4. Cucumber & lime quinoa salad

5. Salade frisee aux lardons

6.

....or carrot/raisin salad is nice sometimes too.

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7. Potato & bell pepper salad in a Dijon vinaigrette

[Megan Blocker]

As is well documented on many topics here at eGullet, I am completely in love with green salads, and have one almost every day. Last night, I made this...romaine with red onion, cucumber, and a vinaigrette.

I don't know if I'd call this my favorite, but it's up there...

[MarkIsCooking]

Maybe slightly down the road from a traditional salad, I just love Ina Garten's Montauk Seafood Salad (no mayo as you sometimes think when you hear seafood salad). All the seafood is poached. I have never had a person who didn't ask me for the recipe.

The recipe is posted on the recipe page of my website if anyone wants it.

www.MarkCooks.com - click on the RECIPE page

[Domestic Goddess]

Mine would always be Caesar's salad made from scratch. with lotsa bacon and croutons.

[Pyewacket]

I love salads too!!!!! and have two favorites that I don't see listed here. Both come from a restaurant in Chapel Hill NC that sadly, no longer exists. I chose my moniker as a salute to Pyewacket restaurant owned and run by David Bacon (great name for an owner, don't you think?)

The first one is the Morning Star Salad-greens topped with a blob of cottage cheese, surrounded by sprouts and shredded carrots, topped with sunflower seeds, raisins, and sliced apples in the form of a star. The dressing was their own signature Lemon Tamari dressing. Fit for the Kitchen Gods and all the rest of us too!

Second was their Parisienne Deluxe. Romaine and Boston lettuce topped with avocado, slivers of red onion, wedges of hard cooked egg and crispy croutons. The dressing was Moutarde de Meaux-kind of a coarse mustard vinaigrette-wonderfully delicious!

I try to reconstruct these at home, but again, not as good as at Pyewacket.

Salutes to David, Muskie, and Tom!!!!! if you stumble upon this post.

Miss you guys.

[Gifted Gourmet]

My autumnal Thanksgiving salad with fruits and nuts and greens and a cranberry dressing .. this was a hit! I may make it every year from here on out ...

[judiu]

My autumnal Thanksgiving salad with fruits and nuts and greens and a cranberry dressing .. this was a hit! I may make it every year from here on out ...

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Wow. Just WOW!

[Gifted Gourmet]

Wow. Just WOW!

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details are now here in RecipeGullet

Throw in all sorts of fruits and whatever nuts you enjoy along with any salad greens you like best ... very flexible on those ingredients ...

[LuckyGirl]

I have two favorite salads-

First, like several other posters, frisse, lardons and poached or fried egg makes one of my favorite salads. The balance though has to be right on the dressing i.e. enough vinegar to cut the fat. It's not a great salad when the dressing is mostly fat. I have also enjoyed this salad with tender, baby spinach.

My other fave is my own simple creation- romaine or a baby green mix with toasted and chopped walnuts and pomegranate seeds tossed with a light drizzle of good evo and good pom vinegar (i.e. made from pomegranates not from flavoring). I love this salad and eat it several nights week all winter. I seed a whole pom at a time so the seeds are in the fridge ready to go. The brightness in color and taste of the pom seeds go a long way to cutting through the winter blahs for me.

As for Thai salads as a few have mentioned, while i like them all, my FAVE is rare beef with toasted rice dressed with the usual fish sauce/chili/lime dressing but with the addition of a little tamarind paste.

[Gastro888]

Oooh, hard one. Thus far the fried soft shell crab w/ green papaya salad at this fantastic Thai restaurant in Queens, NY. A great mix of hot, sour, salty, sweet and the best of all FRIED!

[ChristineT]

I enjoy all kinds of salads, but a good spring mix with thinly sliced rings of red onion, blue cheese, cucumber, pomegranate seeds and walnuts is my favorite. Still working on my favorite dressing for this salad.

QUESTION: A local store had a great sale on pomegranates so I purchased several. Once removed, can the seeds be frozen or will they lose their crunchiness?

[Dave Hatfield]

Mine would always be Caesar's salad made from scratch. with lotsa bacon and croutons.

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GG - no bacon in a classic Caesar. Lots a croutons though. This is not to say that you can't add as much bacon as your heart desires.

For my favourite Cobb salad, however, the more bacon the merrier.