Do you sometimes forget how good vegetables can taste? I forget about all the variations on vegetables. I need a little memory jog now and then to remind myself that there’s more than one way to make cauliflower. Or broccoli. Or zucchini. Or. Or. Or. It could go on and on.

And surely I forget about using carrots – in a raw form, other than eating out of hand. So I was reading Fresh Catering (a blog I read regularly) and Rachael had made this carrot-ginger slaw. Well, my eyes and nose perked up and I immediately printed out the recipe. I had everything on hand except the fresh ginger. But I had some in a bottle, which I’m sure wasn’t AS good, but this salad was so refreshing (next time I really will have the fresh ginger). I have Italian parsley in my garden, but I had an abundance of cilantro in my refrigerator, so I used cilantro instead. DH loved it. So did I. And it took a maximum of about 7 minutes to make it. Literally. That part I liked a lot. And it was better than having another – yet another – green salad. Don’t get me wrong, I love green salads. Really I do. But there’s a tedium about making green salad. And I like homemade dressing too, which adds to the hassle.

When my daughter, Dana, was a little tyke, she first learned how to bake cookies. That’s probably universal in this day and age. Children and cookies just go together like peas in a pod. Or puppies and little boys. Once she got a bit older I began teaching her about knife skills. Probably when she turned 8 or so, and I thought she was mature enough to hold and wield a dull knife.

Initially, she was thrilled with her new-found skills and independence. She liked helping in the kitchen, and was very proud of her accomplishments. But the interest began to wane in the years to follow. I was a working mom, had to get dinner on the table in fast order, so setting the table and making a salad was what helped me the most. She wasn’t old enough or tall enough really to master a spatula and frying pan at the hot stove, or many other things with hot pots and pans, so the salad making was the best choice. As she got older still she began to dislike making a salad unless it was just chopped lettuce. I like lots of vegetables in my salads. Back then it was mostly carrots, celery, green onions, tomatoes and peppers. Now I add lots of other things like fennel, Feta crumbles, sugar snap peas, nuts, even. But she didn’t enjoy the chopping and cutting anymore, probably because it was so repetitive.

Here’s the salad maker now, a picture taken when we were at Dana and Todd’s house over Christmas – she’s 39 now. When I was 39, she was 13, going on 30. But that’s another story. Now she makes salads all the time for her family. And mostly they’re just lettuce. Her kids don’t much like eating raw vegies. They look at salad as merely a vehicle for consuming ranch dressing. But Dana thoroughly enjoys all the homemade dressings. When we talked on the phone the other day she was busily making her favorite of my dressings, the VIP Salad Dressing, which I posted last year. It may have been my very first posting on this-here blog. Or one of the first. And that dressing is still one of my very favorites too.

Last summer Dana’s two children were here to visit for awhile, and the 10-year old, Taylor, was anxious to help me in the kitchen, so I taught her how to make salad. How about that. What goes around, comes around. Dana was a bit in shock when I told her I’d taught Taylor how to use a sharp knife. She did just fine, sweetie! Mom knows all. That’s a bit of an inside family joke if you didn’t get it. Dana reads my blog every day, so am certain I’ll be hearing from her about that! Anyway, I just listened to someone on the radio the other day, that most children, when they reach about 7 or 8, are old enough to learn how to use a knife in the kitchen.So, I’ve rambled on far too long here. Telling family stories. Suffice that this not-green-salad is a good one, a keeper, but probably not one for children to make unless an adult grates the carrots and ginger. Other than that, children could likely do all the rest. If it’s a kid-making deal, maybe start them out with green salad and teach them some knife skills.
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This is another recipe from the cooking class the other day. We had a short discussion about this salad at the December cooking class, when one of the members mentioned it, that she orders it every time she goes to a restaurant here in Newport Beach, called Gulfstream (no website, but it’s on the corner of Pacific Coast Highway and MacArthur and you can read lots of reviews of the restaurant if you search online). It’s a very lovely, upscale restaurant, and quite pricey. I’ve never been there, although when it first opened I did go in and read the menu. I don’t know why I haven’t been back to try it, but just haven’t. But this salad definitely will encourage me. Our instructor, Tarla Fallgatter, loves to try to dissect a restaurant dish, and she had the salad there, promptly came home and worked out her version. We all really liked it. A lot.

I don’t seem to make rice salads much. I don’t actually make many carb-rich dishes anymore since my DH and I both prefer to limit our carbs. But this tasted so darned good, I think I’ll have to. What made this salad was the dressing. Tarla explained that she prefers to use a fruit-based vinegar on salads such as this one. She said we could substitute champagne vinegar, but she finds it much more acetic (meaning too acetic for her tastes), so encouraged all of us to run right out and find some pear vinegar. Lo and behold, I just happen to have some pear vinegar. If any of you read my posting about the contents of my oil and vinegar cupboards, you’ll understand why I say that. I’d have been amazed that I didn’t have it. Sure enough, I have a bottle (unopened, I might add) of Sparrow Lane D’Anjou Pear Vinegar. I think I bought it in Healdsburg last spring at a cute eclectic market on the plaza.
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I was really prepared to NOT like this salad. I mean, Kalamata olives are strong. Pungent. Overwhelming in flavor sometimes. I certainly don’t like eating them straight away. And I thought they’d just overwhelm the tender watercress and Belgian endive leaves. I should know better than to distrust Phillis Carey, one of my favorite cooking teachers. She made this salad at the cooking class I attended in San Diego, at Great News, about 10 days ago.

She made this salad as part of a tenderloin of beef dinner. And it was absolutely delicious. I’ll be making this again and again. It would be perfect with nearly any kind of grilled meat. Even fish. It would make a lovely first course too. It’s colorful. Delicious.

Phillis soaked the red onion in acidulated water (with the vinegar) for 10-20 minutes. I’d forgotten that technique of getting the pungency, the bitterness, that sharpness out of onions. I might soak them longer, depending on the onion I used. And I found another use for my ball bearing whisk. I forget to use this thing, but it was perfect for the dressing here, so you didn’t mash up the olive pieces.
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It’s fall. Time for some fall-type salads. Soups. Stews. Pumpkin. If it would just get below 80 degrees here in southern California I’d feel more like it. Soon. But, because it is October, I’m ready. Therefore, I went through my salad recipe collection looking for something different.

I make just regular green salads all the time. Probably all of you do, too. My mother was a great one for incorporating lots of veggies in salads, so I have continued the tradition. Green salads must have some other stuff like radishes, cucumber, tomatoes, celery, bell peppers, carrots, sugar snaps. That kind of thing. Just a way for us to get more of those healthful in our diet. And when you wrap those in silky salad dressing, they sure do go down easier. And I like . Today’s salad, though, isn’t one of those. It’s a pure greens salad but with an opportunity to give the apple a star billing. And escarole, of course.

So, this salad came from one of the cooking classes I took with Joanne Weir. I think I’ve mentioned before she’s probably my very favorite cooking instructor ever. She’s just so witty and funny. And bursting with lots of helpful hints. This class was no exception. Remember my adage: if you come home with one recipe you make regularly, the class is worthwhile and money was well spent. This class provided one good recipe AND a very good helpful hint that I’ve used over and over.

The hint: when making a salad dressing on the spot, once it’s mixed up (using a whisk always) take a piece of the lettuce from your already prepared greens and dip it into the dressing. Use it in proportion – you don’t want it saturated with dressing, just a bit. Taste it for balance (oil vs. vinegar) and seasonings (salt and pepper). And know that you need it to be saltier than it should be from that one little bite, because once the dressing is tossed all over the salad, the salt will be dispersed.

So now, onto the actual salad. Escarole isn’t a green I normally purchase. It’s not as bitter as curly endive (which was what I found at the market yesterday and is shown in the photo), and it’s easier to eat than curly endive too. Escarole is actually chicory (the green, and also the root that’s added to coffee in the south). It is part of the bitter greens family. Belgian Endive is another one of those I purchase occasionally and is in the same family as escarole/chicory. I’ve learned though, that the longer I hold Belgian Endive, the more bitter it gets. Ever noticed that? So I try to use it up right away.

Some years ago when my DH and I visited France and stayed with a friend in Paris, she made a Belgian Endive salad, just tossed with a little bit of olive oil and lemon juice. It was sweet and oh-so tasty. I’d had B.E. before, but it never tasted as good as I had it there. Once home I determined I’d use it more. I was so disappointed when I bought half a dozen of them to make a similar salad. It was so bitter we couldn’t eat it, even though it was fresh from the grocery store.

In looking up the nutritional information about B.E. I learned that it turns bitter as it oxidizes (exposed to light). So, I guess from the moment it’s plucked from the ground it begins to turn bitter. No wonder I have such a problem. A little bit of that bitterness goes a long ways. Probably U.S. growers have developed varieties that can have a long shelf life, but the taste is obviously compromised. I wish some of the growers here could taste B.E. in France to see the significant difference.

So, this salad combines bitter greens with a bit of sweet from the apple. The original dressing didn’t have any sugar in it, but I find that the dressing is also quite tart, so the addition of just a little bit of sugar helps it a lot. But I’ve also learned from making this salad several times that the acidity of sherry wine vinegar can vary from brand to brand. So I also have to add, sometimes, a bit more oil to the dressing than it calls for. That’s another reason for using the dunk-the-leaf-in-the-dressing technique. I do that once before I add salt and pepper and again after to make sure it’s the right chemistry.

This salad may not appeal to everyone. You need to like that spark of bitter. If you want more sweetness, though, try using a sweeter apple, and add a bit more sugar to the dressing. Granny Smith’s are certainly on the tart side themselves! But, this is a great way to showcase some wonderful fall apples that are just coming into the markets here. And maybe you’ll be lucky to find some escarole too.
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So, what is it about bacon that is so darned good? It’s that crispy porky piggy flavor, naturally! As with most people, especially those of us trying to watch calories and fat, bacon became a treat, a once-in-awhile kind of treat at least 20 years ago. But I miss it. However, I’ve found that a little bit goes a long way. Of course, we know that, right? But when a recipe calls for 3 strips, I use 1. I’ve used turkey bacon and it’s okay. I probably should use it always, but I’d rather have less of the real thing and get more of the real flavor. But, what do you do with a big package of bacon when you only need 1 slice? Here’s one of Carolyn’s tips coming your way. Once I open a package of bacon, I remove the slices I’m using for that meal, then the remaining ones are separated and rolled up, placed on a metal tray – raw – frozen, then the rolls are popped into a Ziploc bag and stored in the freezer. Then, when I need one slice, it’s easy to pull out just one. Here’s a photo of the bacon rolls currently residing in my freezer.

The photo looks blurry, but it’s the vapor in the Ziploc bag you’re viewing. Because bacon is mostly fat, it defrosts in a jiffy. And with these little bacon rolls if I really only want a half a slice, a sharp chef’s knife will easily cut that one roll in half. If you cut it lengthwise, it’s already cut into pieces. But you can chop it a bit more, easily enough.

I do want to talk a bit about bacon itself. I used to buy grocery store bacon. And for some, it may be all that you can afford. I understand – I’ve been there too. But I’ve never liked all the tinkering our food manufacturers do with our foods, so I try to avoid chemicals whenever it’s feasible. Now that trichinosis is a thing of the past, we needn’t worry about acquiring the disease from uncooked pork. So we don’t need the nitrates and nitrites so commonly part of the curing process in bacon and other pork products. I avoid them whenever possible. And it’s easy to do so if you have a source for Niman Ranch bacon. It’s smoked, but uncured. Our Trader Joe’s carries it nearly all the time. It’s without preservatives, and has a gorgeous taste. It’s thick-sliced too, which I prefer. There’s a photo of the bacon above – it is a smaller package – 12 ounces I think, rather than a pound. That’s to make it a bit more affordable, I’m certain. But I use so little of it, a package will last me months and months once it’s in my cute little frozen rolls.

So now, the salad. The recipe for this was published in our local newspaper, The Orange County Register, in 1994. I clipped that little gem out and made it with some home grown tomatoes we had from our garden. It was absolutely fantastic, and I’ve been making it regularly ever since. I added the basil and the croutons to the original recipe. You can eliminate the croutons if you’re watching carbs, but I enjoy the crunchiness of just a few of them. Add as much or as little of the bacon as you see fit. The recipe calls for more than I use, and we’re content with it. Certainly you need good, flavorful tomatoes. But even in the dead of winter Trader Joe’s and Costco both carry a variety of on-the-vine type that are quite good. So you can really have this year around.

I searched around on the internet today to just see what kind of recipes are out there for BLT Salad. What’s unique about this one is the use of rice wine vinegar. It adds a lovely sparkle to the dressing. You can use low-fat or fat free mayo if you want, and it doesn’t really make any difference in the taste. Normally I would say nothing but Best Foods (Hellman’s) will do, but since the mayo is diluted, there’s no appreciable change in the taste. What a great summertime treat. It was delicious for lunch.

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There’s maple syrup in this salad dressing. Sounds way too sweet, doesn’t it? Well, it is on the sweet side for a green salad, I’ll admit. But there is something seductive about the mixture of mayo, maple syrup and champagne wine vinegar. You counter the sweet with the vinegar, and it’s sublime. Usually I serve this in the Fall, and we’re steamy here in So. California these days, so I’m waiting for the new crop of apples to come in before I make this again. Although Granny Smiths are good year around, I know. This is kind of reminiscent of a waldorf salad, except there isn’t any celery in it. So think of this as a waldorf-ish green salad maybe.

This came from a cooking class with Phillis Carey, a cooking instructor I’ve mentioned before on this blog. She has such a creative culinary mind. I’m not that inventive – sure, I can put something together if the ingredients are plopped down in front of me, but I’d never have thought to make a salad dressing with mayo and maple syrup. And the combo of the apples, dried cherries and walnuts too.

I think there are too many apples in this salad, although maybe Phillis wanted the apples to be predominant. I prefer to make the lettuce the star (I use more greens than noted) and the dressing shines through. Then the fruit comes in as secondary. The recipe below is exactly as Phillis made it, with my notes in parens. But, as you start thinking about apples, maybe you’ll think about this salad. It’s excellent in whatever proportion you choose to use!
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It’s the capers, of course, that make this uniquely Sicilian. Whether the Sicilians were the first to utilize the little buds, I don’t know. I buy a giant economy sized bottle of capers at my local Italian market. A large jar isn’t cheap, but I’ve had this jar for about 5 years, I think. Caper berries are also available – they’ve just been allowed to mature to a bigger size, hence they’re berries, rather than buds. I do like capers a lot, but only in small quantity. I once ordered chicken piccata at some restaurant and it had so darned many of them, and probably a bit of the pickle juice, I couldn’t eat it. But in moderation, they add a kind of piquant character to any dish in which you choose to use them. Just be sure to rinse them a little before using them.

I think capers are not common in tuna salad, but when I had this, it was just really, really good. There’s nothing else in it that is that unusual. I’ve never been able to put my finger on why this combination is so darned good, but maybe it’s the capers and lemon juice together that bring something different to the equation. And the fact that you use imported tuna packed in oil. And there’s no mayo in it. There’s just lots of flavor there.

Sicily abounds with lemons. There are lemons on trees obviously, lemons in the market, lemons in art, lemons in ceramics, lemons even in the ancient carvings. If you buy dinnerware, often it will contain pictures of lemons. The early people obviously found every possible way to utilize the citrus. Sicilians use lemon juice in lieu of vinegar, so it’s found in every avenue of their cuisine. And how could I forget Limoncello? Oh, so good is that liqueur.

But we’re talking about a pasta salad here . . . this came from a Joanne Weir cooking class some years ago. I’d have gone right on by this recipe had I not tasted it, figuring what’s one more cold pasta salad with tuna. But this was just different. Better. Tastier. Tangier. Every time I’ve made this it has renewed my enjoyment of it.
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Is a salad just a salad? Or can it be lifted to some higher elevation of flavor. Well, obviously I think the latter. Why didn’t I think of this combination myself? I just never would have thought to put fresh mango in a salad. But putting it with spinach is just a marriage made in heaven. Strawberries aren’t too unusual in salads these days – I’ve seen them listed often in magazines and cookbooks.

I’ve mentioned Phillis Carey before – the cooking instructor. She’s another one of Cherrie’s and my favorite teachers. This is one of her recipes. And a lovely one it is. Nothing difficult. You can make the candied pecans ahead of time, the fruit can be sliced and refrigerated a few hours before, and Trader Joe’s carries baby spinach pre-washed. So it’s a cinch to put together with the balsamic and orange juice dressing. It’s the mangoes, though, that “make” this salad in my view. Mangoes have such a unique piquant, tart and sweet taste all at the same time.

Remembering the first time I ate fresh mango transports me to the Philippines in 1965. How I got there, and why, makes for another story about lumpia, a sensational appetizer that is ubiquitous (to me, anyway) with that country. Mangoes are as everyday there as perhaps apples are to us. And those were the most juicy succulent mangoes I’ve ever had in my life. Because of that introduction to mangoes, I’ve enjoyed the fruit ever since. So I just loved this salad when it was served to me and have made it many times since.
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I suppose seasoned and/or sugared nuts have been around for a long time. Nut companies surely try to devise any way they can to entice us to buy more of their product. And I’ve tasted a variety of caramelized nuts, either walnuts or pecans, that go onto different dishes, most often salads. I’ve even tried the packaged ones from the grocery store. Didn’t like them. Too sweet.

So when Cathy Thomas, the Food Editor of our local daily newspaper, The Orange County Register, gave a cooking class at Sur la Table several years ago, I signed up. I’ve taken several of her classes – she’s fun and entertaining. She even leads food tours in our local Vietnamese community a couple of times a year. I’ve done that too.

But this particular class she prepared some kind of salad with THESE nuts. The only thing I remember about the salad is that it had sliced pears and blue cheese crumbles in it. But I’ll tell you, my taste buds were all over these nuts. You know the word addicting. Addiction: at dictionary.com it’s explained as the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming.Oh my. That’s me with these nuts. If you can stay out of the nuts, you’re a better person than I am.

I’ve made them dozens and DOZENS of times. I usually start out with the original recipe size, thinking oh, these will be enough to last for several salads. DH loves them too. We’ll enjoy having these for a week or so. WRONG. After I’ve made them I have to taste them to make sure they’re not too hot (what kind of lame reasoning is that for snacking?) Usually I’m cooking other things, making the salad. You know, the usual kitchen detail for any dinner. One more nut. Set the table. Another nut. Maybe two. Start the vegetable. Another nut. Measure out the 1/4 cup I think is appropriate for the salad and leave the rest to continue to rest on the foil. Another nut. And so it goes. I think you’ve got the picture.These are not overly sweet, although they surely do have some sugar in them. The pepper is what’s a bit different. Addicting. Spicy. Lovely. And I highly recommend you double the recipe!
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My mother was a fairly simple cook. She was raised on a farm, as was my dad, in the central valley of California. During the depression. As they grew up, mostly they ate meatless meals with an occasional chicken dinner on Sundays, at noontime, from one of the young hens in the chicken pen. So when I was growing up my mother followed her mother’s tradition – we had simple meals too – a small portion of meat (mostly beef), a vegetable, a salad maybe, and some kind of carb (Minute Rice was a new product – my mother thought it was marvelous, so we had it often).

My recollection of brussels sprouts from my youth is not a particularly good one. Overcooked baby cabbages don’t ring any culinary bells for me. And that’s most often how my mother cooked them. They were freshly cooked. But with nothing to embellish them except some salt and pepper, they had nothing to make them appetizing. My dad and mom both loved them, though. Fixed just that way. Often. Blah. Yuck.

But I did and do like cabbage in many guises. I just didn’t think I liked brussels sprouts. So many years later I decided to buy some fresh brussels sprouts – sold on the stalk – and found a recipe in Sunset Magazine. It may have been the recipe that inspired me to try it again. Lo and behold? I liked them. And I do prepare them in the fall and winter months, steamed, still with some bite to them, with a little butter, salt and pepper. Very good. I must admit.

Our kids didn’t think they liked brussels sprouts either, until I made this version below. The recipe takes the lowly sprout to a higher level. You steam or boil them until barely done, then toss with a dressing and let them marinate for a few hours. It’s the tart, piquant bacon dressing that makes them taste so darned good. I believe what I’ve printed below is the recipe from Sunset from years ago. I don’t add but a couple of slices (not 6) of bacon to this, and they are still very good. This makes a great side dish – it could qualify as a salad, I suppose. One of the good things about this is you can make it the day ahead too. They’re good hot or cold, but I prefer them cold or room temperature. Maybe this will motivate you to try it too.
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