86-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 2, 1997 Sensational Summer Salads With the wonderful variety of salad greens available today, salad-making is taking on a whole new dimension. Greens ranging in flavor from mild to spicy and from tender to crisp can be combined to make mouth-watering salads. Once you become familiar with their differences, it’s fun to pick and choose, contrasting flavors and textures and making the most of colors and shapes. Here are some hints that might help you start out with the freshest, most delicious salad ingredients; • When shopping, look for the freshest greens with whole leaves that are crisp and shiny. • Store unwashed salad greens in tightly closed plastic bags in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator for no longer than three or four days. • Just before using, remove any limp or discolored leaves, separate leaves, wash and spin dry. • Cut radicchio, romaine, iceberg, watercress, and endives with stainless steel knife. Tear red and green leaf and butter lettuces. Greens Varieties • Green or red leaf lettuces have a mild flavor, smooth texture and relatively delicate leaves. Red leaf is edged with deep purple-red col or and green leaf is a medium green color. These are versatile greens that go well with more crisp and slighlty bitter greens such as endive or radicchio. They can stand up to a hearty vinaigrette or a light, creamy type of dressing. • Butter lettuce, also known as Boston, is a delicate, light green, fading to soft yellow inside. Leaves are slightly curly and smooth in texture. It is excellent for lining salad platters and com bines well with watercress and endive as well as tangy fruits, including canned pineapple and orange sections. It is also delicious with poppy seed dressing. • Radicchio looks like a small crimson-red and pearly white cab bage. Its flavor is slightly bitter, or peppery, and its texture is sturdy. It complements a variety of salad ingredients and is especially good with robust dressings and ingre dients such as balsamic vinaigrette and feta cheese. • Curly endive is loose and lacy on the outside, with green-tipped outer leaves that curl at the end. The heart of the lettuce is compact. The leaves have a nice “bite” to them and combine well with butter lettuce and red or green leaf let Recipe Topics If you have recipes for the topics listed below, please share them with us. We welcome your recipes, but ask that you include accurate measurements, a complete list of ingre dients and clear instructions with each recipe you submit. Send your recipes to Lou Ann Good, Lancaster Farming, P.O. Box 609, Ephrata, PA 17522. Recipes should reach our office one week before publishing date. 9- Refreshing Summertime Eating 16- Your Favorite Summer Recipe' 23i Tomato Recipes 30- Labor Day Cookout August- tuces and a medley of ingredients, including oranges, chopped dates, and toasted nuts. • Watercress, is a member of the mustard family, has an appealing, peppery snap to it. The leaves are small, round, and dark green with stems. As a salad green, it is refreshing in combination with butter, lettuce, escarole, and red and green leaf lettuces. It’s excel lent with a raspberry vinaigrette and a sprinkling of crumbled goat cheese or chopped and added to a favorite sandwich. • Escarole is a slightly bitter tast ing member of the endive family. Its broad, slightly curved leaves are pale green, shading toward yel low in the center. It adds a nice tex ture to a variety of lettuce blends and goes well with red or green leaf lettuce in salad with seafood and creamy dressing. • Iceberg lettuce packed round head is pale green in the center to medium green on the outside; mild flavor. A source or patassium. • Red cabbage is round with red diesh purple leaves that are tightly packed Tastes similar to green cabbage. Excellent source of vita min C and a good source of potassium. • Chinese cabbage is dark green, small, round leaves with a mild cabbage flavor. Good source of vitamin C and potassium. Romaine lettuce has elongated deep green crisp and sturdy leaves attached to a core; mild in flavor. Excellent source of vitamins A and C. MIXED GREENS WITH BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE 4 cups mixed greens V* cup chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted 1 tablespoon grated orange peel % cup orange juice 2 tablespoons vegatable oil 2 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar 3/4 -ounce goat cheese, cubed Freshly ground black pepper Combine salad greens and nuts in large bowl; set aside. Combine orange peel, orange juice, oil, and vinegar in small bowl. Pour over salad just before serving; toss to evenly coat. Even ly divide salad onto 4 salad plates. Arrange cheese over each salad. Serve with freshly ground pepper to taste, if desired. To toast walnuts, bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Innovative ways to serve salads are becoming more popular among the young crowd. VEGETABLE SALAD IN-A-WRAP 2 large red bell peppers, seeded, halved, and cut into strips 3 small zucchini, ends removed, halved and cut into strips 16-ounce can black beans, rinsed, drained 2 cups com, cooked V* cup chili sauce or salsa 3 tablespoon onion and herb seasoning 6 large flour tortillas 3 cups lettuce mixture of your choice Saute red pepper and zucchini until tender. Combine cooked veg etables, black beans, com, chili sauce, and seasoning; mix well. Place A cup lettuce and 1 cup veg etable mixture down center of each tortilla. Fold tortilla top and bot tom over mixture, then roll sides in to form a tight rolled sandwich. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrig erate up to 2 hours before serving. Serve chilled or at room tempera ture, garnished with flesh cilantro. Serves 12. HARVEST SALAD 1 cup cooked peas 1 cup cooked green beans 1 cup cooked sliced carrots 1 cup uncooked cauliflowerettes 1 cup diced celery 1 cup French dressing 6 large tomatoes 54 teaspoon salt 1 head lettuce Mayonnaise Parsley Combine peas, beans, carrots, cauliflower, celery, and French dressing. Refrigerate to. chill mixture. Peel tomatoes, sprinkle with salt, invert and chill. Drain toma toes and cut into five sections leav ing the stem end whole. Place each tomato in a lettuce cup. fill with vegetables, top with dollop of mayonnaise and parsley. Serves 6. CHEESY MACARONI SALAD l A cup fat-flee mayonnaise V* cup Molly Mcßutter Natural Cheese Flavor Sprinkles VA cups rotini pasta, cooked and drained 1 cup cooked peas 'A cup chopped red bell pepper 2 tablespoons pickle relish In a small bowl, mix togther mayonnaise and Molly Mcßutter until well blended. In large bowl, combine with other ingredients, mix well. Refrigerate, covered, 1 to 2 hours to allow flavors to blend. Serves 4. SPINACH SALAD 6 cups fresh spinach, cleaned and drained 11-ounce can mandarin oranges, drained 1 cup flesh sliced mushrooms A cup thinly sliced red onion rings • 54 cup prepared fat-firee red wine vinaigrette salad dressing 154 tablespoons lemon pepper seasoning Combine spinach, oranges, mushrooms, and onion rings in huge bowl. Combine salad dress ing and seasoning. Toss salad with dressing just before serving. Serves 8. Did you know that canola oil holds the distinction of being ‘’nature’s healthies vegetable oil?” Canola contains the lowest saturated fat content of any edible oil and is high in mononunsaturated fatty acids that have been shown to lower blood cholesterol levels. Don’t miss out on the newest canola oil salad recipes. The Minneso ta Canola Council has recipes for pasta, lentils, wild rice, pork and more! The brochure also includes tips for canola oil and greens. To receive your free recipe brochure, send a self-addressed-stamped envelope to Minnesota Canola Council, Salad Recipes, 1306 W. Co. Rd. F, #lO9, St Paul. MN 55112. Here are two recipes to toss up a summer salad. CREAMY DIJON VINAIGRETTE 'A cup wine vinegar B. Light Lebanon 'A teaspoon each salt and pepper 1 cup canola oil 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon mayonnaise Whisk ingredients to blend. Refrigerate until ready to serve. CREAMY SOUTH OF THE BORDER SALSA DRESSING 'A cup sour cream 'A cup salsa 'A cup canola oil 1 A teaspoon salt Whisk ingredients to blend. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Featured Recipe ROASTED GARLIC BEAN SALAD 2 cans three bean salad, undrained 19-ounce garbanzo beans, rinsed, drained VS cup thinly sliced red onion 3 tablespoons Molly Mcßutter Natural Roasted Garlic Flavor Sprinkles Combine all ingredients; mix well. Refrigerate, covered, 1 to 2 hours to allow flavors to blend. Serve on lettuce leaves, if desired. Serves 10. CHILLED CHICKEN RISOTTO SALAD 3 cups cooked rice 2 cups sliced cooked chicken ‘A cup chopped red bell pepper '/, cup prepared pesto sauce 3 tablespoons Molly Mcßuttet Natural Roasted Garlic Flavor Sprinkles Combine all ingredients; mix well. Refrigerate, coveted, 1 to 2 hours to allow flavors to blend Serve chilled or at room tempera ture, garnished with fresh basil and black olives, if desired. Serves 6, (Turn to Pofl® B 8)
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