Thank you so much to Elisheva Rabinowitz for the opportunity to write this article about some New Year appropriate salads. Since, we are coming to the New Year and apples are on my mind, we’ll look at a few salad recipes.
First of all, you can always add diced apples to whatever salad you would like. And you say, what? my apples always turn brown when I do this. Well, before you add the apples to a salad, put them in a zip lock bag, and add some lemon juice (a squeeze from half a lemon – if you have no lemon, you can use a teaspoon of vinegar to the same end) – shake. Then you can add the apples without fear from the color brown… The acidity from the lemon will stop the oxidation process that turns the apple brown (if I remember my 7th grade science class properly, I believe this is the reason).
Second – are you still yearning for summer? You can grill some apples and throw them into a salad – the grilling process sears the juices in, caramelizes some of the sugars and makes for a delicious addition to your salad. So says Bobby Flay in his grilling book – and I will give a shout out to my Foreman Grill that my mom bought us. It’s great – we’ve been grilling since we got it, and we take it with us – if we’re in a challenging cooking location, we just need an electric outlet and we’re good to go. She got us one of the big ones – so we can fit 6 hamburgers on at a time, or lots and lots of apple slices.
Below please find 3 apple salad recipes – with three different bases: one with cabbage, one with broccoli and the popular Waldorf with lettuce. You might not realize this – but there are a ton of aphids (a type of tiny bug) out there in lettuce, cabbage and broccoli – I usually buy these in bags (where the bag tells me there are no bugs in there).
Cabbage Salad:
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup vinegar
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1/2 tablespoon mustard
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Black pepper to taste
- 1 bag of green cabbage
- 1/2 bag red cabbage
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 2 apples, cored and grated (granny smith apples are tart and hold up well to being grated)
Preparation:
- In a large bowl, mix together vinegar, oil, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper. Add the cabbages, red pepper and apples and toss until combined. Serve, or put in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.
Broccoli Salad:
Ingredients
- 4 medium tart apples, cored and diced
- 4 cups broccoli florets
- 1/2 cup diced white onions
- 1/2 cup craisins
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup of nuts -your choice (I like pecan or almond), chopped
Preparation:
- Put the apples in a ziplock bag and add a little lemon juice and shake.
- Combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar,lemon juice, and salt in a big bowl.
- If you like your salad well dressed, then add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl until coated. If you like your dressings less well dressed, add a little dressing at a time until you get to where you want to be.
Waldorf Salad Recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup chopped, slightly toasted walnuts (I don’t like walnuts, so I typically substitute almonds)
- 1/2 cup celery, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup red seedless grapes, sliced
- 1 sweet apple, cored and chopped
- 3 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- Salt
- Pepper
- Bag of lettuce
Preparation:
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise and the lemon juice. Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt, ground pepper to taste. Mix in the apple, celery, grapes, and walnuts. Serve on a bed of lettuce.