Summer salads

 

Last week I meant to write about summer sandwiches and salads, but I got so carried away with sandwiches, I figured tacking on salads would be courting bored readers. So, today, here’s my take on salads.

We like them a lot as a one-dish light supper. Even the meat-and-potatoes man among us likes a salad. Two of our favorites are Big Mac Salad and a home-made version of taco salad.

Big Mac salad

Big Mac is just what it sounds like—all the ingredients of a Big Mac, except in salad form. Crumbled hamburger, grated cheddar, chopped tomatoes, pickles, red onion diced or in rings, chopped head lettuce. Dress it with Thousand Island. You can use bottled, but if you do I recommend one of the “designer” brands like Marie’s. Better yet, make your own—my recipe was in last week’s Gourmet column.

My version of taco salad

Taco salad is a flexible thing, and you can pretty much add what you want. But I had a recipe from a long-ago friend that my kids grew up on: Susie K’s Salad. It’s the inspiration for my version of taco salad.

1 lb hamburger

1 envelope taco seasoning or make your own (homemade does not have preservatives and it’s easy, using spices you have on hand)

1 can beans – I like pinto, the rest of the family likes black

Grated cheddar

Chopped tomatoes

Chopped head lettuce

Onion – either red or diced green onions

Dressing – Christian insists on the classic Catalina dressing, which I find too sweet; the seasoning on the hamburger is enough for me, so I take mine out and then dress the rest with Catalina.

Fritos – here’s the important thing about Fritos: add them individually to each serving. The rest of the salad will keep a day if there are leftovers, but the Fritos get mushy and awful.

Make your own taco seasoning: 1 Tbsp. chili powder; 1 tsp. garlic powder; ¼ tsp. onion powder; ¼ tsp. oregano; ½ tsp. paprika; 1 tsp. cumin; 1 tsp. salt; 1 tsp. finely ground black pepper; Crushed red pepper to taste, optional

Store it in the freezer between uses.

Wilted lettuce

           The first time I mentioned wilted lettuce, Christian look appalled. But when I fixed it, he liked it a lot. This is one my mom used to make with fresh leaf lettuce from Dad’s garden. To me, you just fry some bacon and save the grease. Tear lettuce into a bowl, add green onions if you want. Pour warm grease—yes, warm!—over the greens, add enough vinegar, and crumble bacon. But in order to write about it, I went online and looked up proportions. Four or five pieces of bacon should produce enough bacon and grease for a salad for four; the online recipe called for two Tbsp. red wine vinegar and 1 Tbsp. lemon juice. I substituted three Tbsp. apple cider vinegar, and it tasted just like Mom’s.

The best-ever blue cheese salad

Jordan and I can make a meal of this: Christian and Jacob, not so much. But it truly is the best blue cheese salad I’ve ever had. The salad goes together backward and is best if you use a seasoned, unfinished wooden salad bowl. Over time this salad will season the bowl even more.

Garlic clove, split

Salt, pepper

Dry mustard

Crumbled blue cheese

Cider vinegar

Olive oil

Rub the salad bowl thoroughly with both pieces of the split garlic clove and then with salt, pepper, and dry mustard. Not a whole lot of any spice, particularly the mustard. You may have to experiment and find out how much is right for you. Crumble blue cheese into the bottom of the bowl. Add maybe a fourth cup of vinegar—and mush the cheese around in it with a fork, until you have a thick liquid. Add olive oil. Remember, the classic proportions are one part vinegar to three parts olive oil. This is Jordan’s salad, and she makes it for us, but sometimes she gets it a little bit stout. Also it’s easy to make too much—if you start with too much vinegar and then balance with the oil, you sometimes have enough to make salad soup. Just pour some off and save it in a refrigerator container. You want the dressing to coat every bit of the lettuce but lightly.

Add torn lettuce and toss. You might taste and adjust as needed.

A final note: Jordan wants to fix blue cheese salad every night; I want to vary our salads, and I experiment with lots of dressings. But recently I read a rave review of Trader Joe’s Goddess Dressing and bought a bottle—haven’t tried it yet, so this is an untested recommendation.

For fall back, we like Newman’s Own Classic Oil and Vinegar (not the vinaigrette with balsamic vinegar). For a light lunch, cut up a bit of tomato, carrot, onion, cucumber; add enough cottage cheese to sort of hold it all together, and douse it with Newman’s Own. It’s another of those dishes that gets out of hand easily, and I sometimes end up with huge servings.

Have a cool summer eating salad!