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)