Cabbage & Gherkin Salad

I had half a sweetheart cabbage left after a meal and not much else in the fridge.

I put together the ingredients I had and got a delicious new salad.

Use red onions if you can as these give a good colour contrast.

Ingredients

½ a sweetheart cabbage
4-5 medium sized gherkins
2 small red onions
3 tablespoons of gherkins liquid from the jar
2-3 tablespoons of full-fat mayonnaise
Salt & pepper

Method

Cut the cabbage into fine shreds.
Cut the gherkins into round slices.
Chop the onions into small pieces.
Mix the chopped ingredients with the gherkin liquid and the mayonnaise.
Season with salt and pepper.

Carrot, Leek & Apple Salad

As well as any cookery books and magazines, I have notes and cuttings from various sources. Ever so often I look through these for inspiration and think “Yes, I must try that!”.

Here is a recipe for a salad that I jotted down when visiting one of my cousins in Białystok.

Ingredients

2 large carrots – coarse grated
2 leeks cut into fine slices
2 eating apples – cored and rough chopped
Juice of half a lemon
2 -3 tablespoons of full fat mayonnaise
Chopped chives to serve

Method
Mix everything together apart from the chives.
Put into a serving dish
Sprinkle the chives on top and serve.

Served in Royal Doulton – Carnation – 1982 – 1998

Pepper & Apple Salad

Here is a refreshing salad with a honey and yoghurt dressing for a sunny day.

Ingredients

1 red pepper
1 yellow or orange pepper
2 onions
2 eating apples such as Braeburn
Juice of 1 lemon
*
2 tablespoons of runny honey
3 tablespoons of Greek style yoghurt
*
Flat-leaved parsley to garnish

Method

Cut the peppers and remove the stalk and seeds.
Cut the peppers into very thin strips.
Slice the onions finely.
Put the lemon juice into a bowl.
Core the apples and cut into small chunks.
Place the apples into the lemon juice.
Mix the peppers, onions and apples together.
Put the salad into a serving dish.
*
Mix the honey and yoghurt together.
Put this mixture on top of the salad.
Garnish with chopped flat-leaved parsley.

Waldorf Salad

I have been watching my box set of Fawlty Towers DVDs and have found they are still amusing after more than 40 years.

When an American guest asks for a Waldorf salad and Basil Fawlty replies “I think we’re just out of waldorfs” – I thought – I have never actually had that – must look it up and make it!

Waldorf salad was created by Oscar Tschirky, a Swiss – American, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York in 1896.

The original was made with celery, apple and grapes – nuts were added a bit later.

Either use green skinned apples for an all green look or red skinned for a nice contrast.

Toasted walnuts are delicious – just take care and watch them so you do not burn them!

Ingredients

6 sticks of celery
2 eating apples – Braeburn are good
100g walnuts – toasted
100 – 150g seedless green grapes
2-3 tablespoons of full fat mayonnaise
Juice of half a lemon
*
Crispy lettuce leaves to serve

Method

Thinly slice the celery stalks
Core the apples and chop into small pieces
Chop the toasted walnuts into small pieces
Cut the grapes into halves
Mix the celery, apples, nuts and grapes together
Mix the mayonnaise with the lemon juice
Mix the dressing with the salad
*
Hand shred the lettuce leaves and put them in the at the bottom of a shallow bowl
Heap the salad on top of the lettuce.

Serving Variation

For individual servings put one or two lettuce leaves per person in a small dish and spoon some salad in the middle.

Salad after Fawlty Towers

Recently I have been watching my box set of Fawlty Towers DVDs, which is still so amusing after all these years.

Whilst watching the episode with the American guest and the Waldorf salad – when famously Basil Fawlty says “I think we’re just out of waldorfs” – I thought must try that!

I needed a salad for dinner but realised I did not have all the ingredients so decided to make a similar salad with the ingredients I had.

I will get all the ingredients for a real Waldorf salad and make that soon.

Ingredients

Half a white or sweetheart cabbage
2 eating apples – I used Braeburn*
100g of walnuts – chopped
2 -3 tablespoons of mayonnaise – full fat is best

Method

Shred and chop the cabbage into fine pieces.
Core the apples and chop into small pieces.
Mix the cabbage, apples and walnuts together.
Mix in the mayonnaise.

*

Braeburn apples originated in New Zealand in the 1950s.

They are named after Braeburn Orchard where they where first commercially grown.

Red on Red!

I recently went to a family gathering, although it was in fact a very sad occasion, it did include a lovely buffet meal.

There was a beetroot and carrot salad served, which had a lovely sweetness and seemed to me quite Polish in style.

I asked one of cousins if she knew who had made the salad and was told that this was one of the dishes supplied by a local “deli” in Consett.

So I have had a go at making this and made one with beetroot and another with red cabbage – both delicious.

Serve with cold meats and Polish style sausages or roast pork or grilled lamb chops.

Sweet Red Dressing

I made the same dressing for both of the salads – using redcurrant the first time and lingonberry the second.

Ingredients

Around 200g (7-8 tablespoons) of either Redcurrant jelly, Lingonberry jam or Cranberry sauce.
Juice of one lemon.

Method

Put the jelly/jam into a small saucepan.
Add the lemon juice.
Heat gently and stir with a wooden spoon.
Keep stirring until the ingredients have combined and you have a thick liquid.
Leave to cool before use.

Beetroot & Carrot Salad

Ingredients

Boiled beetroots – I used 2 vacuum packets
2 Carrots

Method

Chop the beetroot into small chunks or cubes.
Grate the carrots using the coarse grater.
Mix the beetroot and carrots together.
Pour the dressing over them and mix well.
*
I found that this was better if it was left for many hours as the beetroot really absorbs the dressing.
You can add the dressing to the beetroots first and leave overnight and then add the carrots the next day.

Instead of chopping the beetroot you can grate it using a coarse grater.

Red Cabbage & Carrot Salad

Ingredients

Half a red cabbage
2 carrots

Method

Grate the red cabbage using a coarse grater.
Grate the carrots.
Mix the red cabbage and carrots together.
Pour the dressing over them and mix well.
*
This is also better when left for several hours before serving.

Note

Both keep well for several days in a covered glass or plastic container in the fridge.

Dutch Cold Dish & Other Salads

I recently returned from a trip to The Netherlands to visit my friend again.

I always have a great time visiting different parts of the country and enjoying the wonderful hospitality.

One dish I have had many times is Koudeschotel – this translates as Cold Dish.

I think it is a sort of “posh cousin” to several Polish cooked salads such as Potato Salad and Mixed Vegetable Salad.

It is often made in large quantities as the centrepiece in a buffet meal.

There is a central mound made with boiled potatoes mashed with mayonnaise, onions, peas, carrots and cooked meat like chicken, pork or beef.

This is then decorated with items such as hard boiled eggs, gherkins, silver-skin onions, prawns or shrimps, asparagus, tomatoes, cooked or smoked meats and dusted with a little sweet paprika.

The koudeschotel on my arrival from England this year.

If the central mound is made without meat it is sometimes called Huzarensalade – Huzar’s Salad.

Ingredients – for the central mound

The original recipe was for a large amount suitable for a big party – I have scaled it down.

1 Kg of cold boiled potatoes
Around 200ml of mayonnaise – real full fat is best
100g of cooked peas
1 large onion chopped fine
2 boiled carrots – diced
200g of cooked chicken, pork or beef – shredded (meat used to make soup or stock is good)
Salt & pepper to taste

Notes

Many supermarkets and delicatessens in The Netherlands sell this mixture ready made.

Method

Mash the potatoes with the mayonnaise.
Add the peas, carrots, onion and meat and mix well.
Season to taste.

Arrange the mixture in the centre of a serving plate.

Decorate with a selection of the following:

Hard boiled eggs – sliced or quartered
Gherkins – small or large ones sliced
Silver-skin onions
Cooked prawns or shrimps,
Cooked asparagus spears or slices
Tomatoes – quartered
Cooked or smoked meats – chopped or in little slices
Dusted with a little sweet paprika.

Now is the time to be a little creative with the decoration – I tend to do rows of the different ingredients and dust with sweet paprika at the end.

(For smaller gatherings sometimes the mixture is placed in a bowl and the eggs and gherkins etc are just placed on top)

Other Salads

One day we went to a neighbour’s house for a BBQ and koudeschotel was one of the dishes served with the grilled meats.

We were also served the following two lovely salads –

Cabbage & Pineapple Salad

Ingredients

Small white cabbage
8 rings of fresh or tinned in juice pineapple
50 – 80g of raisins

Method

Soak the raisins in pineapple juice for at least 30 minutes
Shred and chop the cabbage
Chop the pineapple rings into small pieces
Mix the cabbage, pineapple and the raisins in juice together

Salad with Smoked Salmon & Capers

Ingredients

Crunchy lettuce such as Cos or Little Gem – I used a Red Little Gem
100g Smoked Salmon
2 or 3 sticks of celery – finely sliced
1 tablespoon of capers
100g of cooked small sized pasta
Juice of half a lemon
Ground black pepper

Method

Hand tear the lettuce into medium sized pieces.
Chop the smoked salmon into small pieces.
Mix the smoked salmon, capers and pasta together and
Mix this with the lettuce.
Pour the lemon juice over this and mix.
Season with black pepper.
Extra salt should not be needed because of the capers & smoked salmon.

You could serve this as a starter using a few lettuce leaves as a bed on each plate with the smoked salmon mixture in the centre.

Summer Salads – Radish & Cucumber

The inspiration for these salads are from recipes in a new book I bought recently in Poland and from one my Polish friend in Leeds bought for me.

History of the Radish

Radish, in Polish – rzodkiew, Latin name – Raphanus sativus, is a root vegetable that belongs to the Brassica family and is thought to have originated in South East Asia. It is mentioned in Greece in the 3rd century BC and in Europe in pre-Roman times.

It was one of the first European crops to be taken to the Americas.

Some of the recipes used czarna rzodkiew – which translates as black radish. Now I had never heard of this, so looked it up and found it is called Black Spanish radish and sometimes called winter radish. It is mentioned in Europe in the 16th century and in England in the 19th century.

It has white flesh and a black skin and can be round or long and it is much larger than the radishes I have seen. So when the recipes used one or two black Spanish radishes, I used 1 or 2 bunches of radishes.

Cucumber & Radish Salad – Version 1

Ingredients

1 cucumber
1 or 2 bunches of radishes
1 tablespoon of oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Salt & pepper
Chopped dill & flat leafed parsley

Method

Peel the cucumber or part peel lengthwise in stripes.
Cut the cucumber into thin slices – you can cut these into halves.
Top and tail the radishes and then thinly slice them.
Add salt and pepper.
Add the oil and lemon juice and mix well.
Garnish with dill and flat leafed parsley.

Sweet Honey Dressing

A lovely sweet dressing made with honey is used on the following four salads.

Ingredients

125ml soured cream
1 tablespoon of runny honey
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Method

Use a little whisk to combine the ingredients.

Cucumber & Radish Salad – Version 2

As version 1 with sweet honey dressing

Radish & Red Onion Salad

Ingredients

1 – 2 bunches of radishes
1 red onion
Sweet honey dressing

Method

Top and tail the radishes and then thinly slice them.
Slice and chop the onion into small squares.
Mix the radishes and onion together.
Pour the sweet honey dressing over them and mix.

Radish & Raisin Salad

Ingredients

1-2 bunches of radishes
80g raisins or sultanas
Sweet honey dressing

Method

Put the raisins into a small bowl and boiling water over them to cover.
Leave them until they are cold.
Use a sieve to drain away the water.
Use kitchen roll or a clean tea cloth to dry the raisins.
Top and tail the radishes and then thinly slice them.
Mix the radishes and raisins.
Pour the sweet honey dressing over them and mix.

Optional

Serve this on top of a bed of shredded lettuce.

Served here with liver & rice

Cucumber & Raisin Salad

Ingredients

1 cucumber
80g raisins or sultanas
Sweet honey dressing

Method

Put the raisins into a small bowl and boiling water over them to cover.
Leave them until they are cold.
Use a sieve to drain away the water.
Use kitchen roll or a clean tea cloth to dry the raisins.
Peel the cucumber or part peel lengthwise in stripes.
Cut the cucumber into thin slices – you can cut these into halves.
Mix the cucumber and raisins.
Pour the sweet honey dressing over them and mix.

Served here with liver & mushrooms and rice.

Radish & Apple Salad

Ingredients

1 bunch of radishes
1 large apple – Braeburn is good
Juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 tablespoons of Greek yoghurt
2 pinches of salt

Method

Top and tail the radishes and then thinly slice them.
Cut larger slices into two
Put them into a bowl with the sugar and salt and leave these for around 10 minutes
Core the apple and cut into rough cubes
Place the apple into a bowl and our the lemon juice over them.
Mix the radishes and apple together
Mix in the yoghurt.

Salads with a Hint of Breakfast!

Having written several posts recently with different ideas for breakfasts, I started to think about how to use some of these ingredients such as smoked bacon & eggs in salads.

Version 1 with lemon juice

Ingredients

1 iceberg lettuce
1 cucumber
4 hard boiled eggs
250g smoked bacon
Lemon juice
Chives to garnish
Salt & pepper to taste

Method

Cut the lettuce into shreds with a sharp knife.
Peel the cucumber or part peel in stripes lengthwise.
Chop the cucumber into small pieces.
Chop up the hard boiled eggs into small pieces.
Chop up the bacon into small squares and fry without extra oil until all the fat has come out.
Use kitchen roll to soak up the excess fat and leave to cool completely.
Mix all the ingredients together
Add salt & pepper to taste.
Add the lemon juice and stir.
Add chopped chives to serve.