SALADS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 13, Issue 334, 16 November 1945, Page 22

SALADS

E are all getting more accustomed now to the idea of serving a salad with our main meal-which is the evening dinner in most homes. At one time, we associated salad with cold meat only; now we are liking more and more the side-plate of salad either before, or with, our hot meat course. Nutritionists are driving it home that some green or yellow vegetables must be eaten every day, and there is no better way than to serve them raw, as salad. But don’t cut up the lettuce, or cabbage, or watercress, long before the meal. Shred with scis‘sors, or break up with the fingers, the crisp lettuce into smallish, "bite-sized" pieces, and put them into a bowl, or individual plates; add finely -chopped onion or chives, diced celery, grated raw carrot, chopped parsley, watercress, diced beetroot, chopped apple — almost anything you like; and just at the last moment toss with French dressing, using

a salad fork and spoon. Or pass the salad dressing at thegtable. For summer evenings, when the family gets home tired and hungry after the day’s work, an easy and tasty meal, satisfying and healthy, is a hot casserole dish of meat and vegetables, with a fresh salad to eat before, with, or after, according to each one’s fancy, and finishing with a cup of good coffee, and perhaps a gingerbread. A fruit cocktail beforehand adds the necessary Vitamin C, A Hearty Salad This is a main-meal salad, and should contain, as well as the salad greens, onions,’ tomatoes and so on, a fair proportion of cooked fish or tongue, ham, chicken, rabbit, fowl, veal, cheese, hard boiled eggs, sliced, quartered or halved; or some of two or three. It is a fine way to use up left-overs, because they: are not re-heated. When green peas and runner beans are in season, they are an excellent addition to a salad, especially the peas. The left-overs may be finely slivered or chopped, and mixed with the crisp greens just before serving time; or they may be grouped in little heaps in small lettuce leaves. Never have a wet, soft salad; see that the leaves are crisp and nearly dry. The three C’s for saladmaking are Crisp, Cool and Clean. Egg Salad Club Style (Los Angeles) Arrange this salad on individual plates. First put a slice of HOT crisp buttered toast. Spread with a little mayonnaise. Now put a thick slice of tomato and dust with salt and pepper. Cover this with a chopped hard-boiled egg which has been mixed with mayonnaise and a little pickle relish. Top with a slice of crisp cooked bacon. Garnish with small lettuce leaves. Chicken Salad Club Style Substitute a cupful of chopped cooked chicken for the hard-boiled egg. For variation, use rabbit or tongue or fish.

Mixed Salad Bowl with Cottage Cheese Balls (Excellent) Three cups finely shredded cabbage; 1 small head of lettuce shredded, 1 cup finely shredded carrots; a few spring onions, or 2 or 3 small white onions, finely sliced; 2 tomatoes cut in chunks; 3 tablespoons salad oil; 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, a dash of pepper and 4% teaspoon dry mustard. Wash and drain the vegetables thoroughly, so that all water is removed. If possible, crisp them up in the refrigerator. Shred and prepare them, and place in big salad bowl. Pour the oil over and mix well with a salad-fork and spoon. Add the seasonings to the vinegar, and pour that in also, miximg thoroughly, so that the salad is coated lightly. Make the cottage cheese into balls (adding some minced chives if liked) and sprinkle them with a little paprika to give colour. The cheese balls may be arranged separately on a dish, or placed around the side of the salad.

Croutons with Salad Try sprinkling HOT diced whitebread croutons, fried crisp in butter or bacon-fat, over any salad put together with French dressing. Jellied Veal Salad First make the Veal and Eéé Loaf. Place 242lb. knuckle of veal in a deep saucepan with a peeled onion to flavour and pepper and salt to season. Cover with boiling water, and simmer till the meat is tender. Drain off the stock. Chop up the meat finely and flavour as de-sired-a little pickle relish is nice. Now line a glass casserole or basin with slices of hard-boiled egg, then fill up with the chopped and flavoured veal, Pour over the hot veal stock and leave in cold place all night. In the morning it should be set, and able to be turned out on to a large dish. Surround this with-let-tuce nests filled with potato salad. Potato Salad Cut cold boiled potatoes into cubes; grate a little onion over them and stir in a little finely chopped celery. Cover with a dressing made by mixing together two tablespoons mashed potatoes, 2 teaspoons sugar, and 42 teaspoon dry mustard and adding enough top milk to make the whole a thick cream. Arrange tomato slices, and radishes and lettuce or watercress around the dish. Very good.