This is a permutation of the vast universe of simply dressed, grated, or julienned raw vegetable salads that includes France's grated carrot and celery root salads and the endless variety of shredded cabbage slaws in America. They all share a purity and directness of flavor, with a pleasingly rustic, elemental look.
Fresh summer greens and bits of sweet red pepper dot rice the color of a sunset — this is one good-looking salad to bring to the table, or to pack away for a picnic. In fact, I first tasted it when a Spanish friend brought it to one of our “Shakespeare in the Park” picnics in New York. It’s indestructible enough to go almost anywhere. Can be made hours ahead and chilled, but serve the salad at room temperature.
This is a forum recipe that Nancy, a Foodtalk regular featured on the Sept. 10, 2002, edition of Tuesday Night Kitchen, has made. Says Margaret: "I generally use this for cole slaw. It is my mother's recipe, but although it is very ancient it has not lost its charm."
Ingredients
Ingredients
This has been a go-to salad for longer than we remember. Chinese in origin, it takes on nearly anything from the grill. Pair it with Smoky Salmon Steaks, Corn on the Cob with Chile-Lime Dip and, of course, Ginger Hoisin Summer Shrimp.
All cooks have a few basic recipes that they turn to again and again over the course of a year. Potato and green bean salad is one of mine. I make it different ways depending on the season and my mood. It's very good dressed with just olive oil and lemon juice, but it becomes absolutely superb when bound with homemade Green Goddess. If you're familiar only with the bottled version of this dressing, you must try my recipe, which is based on the original, invented in the 1920s by the great San Francisco chef Victor Hirtzler.
This salad epitomizes the Vietnamese love of contrasting flavors and textures.
The mild cream-Dijon dressing keeps this salad wine friendly.
Tender greens with somewhat assertive flavors, such as peppery arugula and watercress or bitter endive, or young dandelion go wonderfully with sweet citrus fruits like oranges, mandarins, and blood oranges, ripe pears or crunchy apples, and figs. Roasted nuts bring out the sweetness in the greens. There are endless possible variations on this theme. One of my favorites is arugula, blood oranges, and roasted pine nuts. Or, for an easy main-course luncheon salad, combine frisée, quartered ripe figs, and walnuts, then top it with thin sheets of prosciutto or smoked goose breast.