Salad 101

There have been some requests for recipes as well as the much sought after "Debbie Tips". I must tell you that the following content is not rocket science by any means. There are a lot of little things I am learning in the kitchen these days that are kind of rocking my world. Nothing crazy new, but just a lot of "Ah ha, I never thought of that" moments. Here is the recipe for one of the salads I made this week that I particularly enjoyed. Simple, accessible, and yummy.

Christmas Salad (named for it's mix of green and red colors; you may eat this at any time of year) - 

1 bunch of red leaf lettuce 

1 yellow apple, cubed

1 pear, cubed

3 oz. shredded parmesan cheese

3/4 cup cashews

1/2 cup craisins

1 small red onion, sliced or diced (whatever)

Christmas Salad Dressing - 

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tsp dijon mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp poppy seed

Debbie Tip #1:  Back at home I had always washed the lettuce immediately before preparing a salad, assuming it would make for the freshest results. However, Debbie has taught me that washing lettuce the day before a salad is to be made allows the lettuce to be clean, crisp, and fresh, yet not at all wet or soggy. I rinse the lettuce in the sink with water, use a salad spinner to drain off any and all excess water, and then put the lettuce in a tightly sealed plastic bag. When it's time to make the salad the next day, I only need to rip the lettuce up and discard any pieces that aren't looking so hot.  

Debbie Tip #2:  I'm learning to accept correction, but hey, it's a process. I am a work in process. The first salad I made here was for a small group of 4 people (it was not a house event), and afterwards Debbie kindly informed me that salad I had made needed a bit of, well, improvement. She warned me that if I don't tear the lettuce smaller for our house meals, to about an inch or an inch and a half squared in size, my salad would not feed the entire group. To be honest, I didn't believe this to be true. It seemed an optical illusion to me. I mean, you have the same amount of lettuce either way... right? So what difference does it make how small you tear up the lettuce? It doesn't change how much lettuce you are working with. But now that I have done it three times, I am now a believer. Tearing the lettuce into smaller pieces appears to make the salad go further than it would have otherwise. It looks bigger too.  

Debbie Tip #3:  Mix all of the salad ingredients together in a small bowl, except for the lettuce. As you are tearing the lettuce up into a large bowl, layer it with the small bowl ingredients. Repeat this again and again. Layer o' lettuce, layer o' mix-ins, layer o' lettuce, layer o' mix-ins. Doing this means that you don't need to toss your salad. Everything is already evenly mixed/layered together. 

Debbie Tip #4:  It takes about 2 minutes to make the dressing. Before I even assemble the salad, I make the dressing and toss it in the fridge where it's going to hang out for the rest of the day. If everyone's coming for dinner at 6:30pm, I pull the salad out of the fridge at 6pm, throw the dressing on it, and stick it back in the fridge. A half hour is the perfect amount of time for a salad to be "dressed." It's not soggy from sitting in its dressing all day, but it still has time for deliciousness to permeate. Mmmm. 


Enjoy! If you guys like this kind of thing, let me know and I'll do more. Pamela Ellgen's chocolate cookie recipe is so totally killer, and I might be willing to share that with you... Love you guys.