Thursdays Are For Cooking!

This is easy. If you want summer dishes, they are frequently chopped salads of some kind.

My first one is the kind of cole slaw my mother used to make. It does not have that milk-based dressing that you get at the deli. Instead, it just provides its own flavor to the mix.

You’ll need:

Cabbage – one-half to one full head of green cabbage, chopped. If you want to, you can include red cabbage, a/k/a raddichio, to add some color.

Tomatoes – 3 to 4 plum (Roma) tomatoes, chopped into the cabbage, or if you prefer, the regular globe tomatoes that are more juicy. You can also throw in the cherry tomatoes at the end of fixing this dish.

Onions – the red onions add color and flavor, yellow/Spanish onions just add flavor, and green onions, including part of the tails, add color and flavor. Half of the chopped full-sized onion, plus two to four of the green onions, sliced up, for color.

Mix this bowl of stuff together. Add a little salt and pepper to it, and yes, this is a good spot to add one Mrs. Dash’s seasonings, too.  Give this mix a good stir, cover it with cling wrap and refrigerate it for a few hours, then stir it thoroughly before you put it on the table.

No, it is nothing like deli cole slaw, because that has a milk-based dressing. This is less likely to go bad on you, too, in hot weather.

The second one is Waldorf salad, which is a mix of chopped apples, raisins, chopped nuts, celery, and grapes with a mayonnaise dressing. The best apples for this are either the Pink Ladies, which hold their flavor quite well, or the Granny Smiths, which are really snappy and tart right now.

Make sure you soak the raisins in water to soften them before you throw them in, or if you don’t want them, just leave them out. I find that one apple is sufficient to make a medium-sized bowl of Waldorf salad, but if you have a large crowd to serve, adjust the quantity of ingredients accordingly.

And last, but certainly not least, is the chopped veggie salad, which includes all of the vegs in that photo up top, plus celery, cucumber (which wilts – remember that), color bell peppers, some chopped raw turnip (be sure you peel it!), shredded or chopped carrot, icicle radishes, etc., etc., etc. You might even want to derib and shred some kale or bok choy for this and add the shredded green strips to this mixture.

You chop up and mix together all of those veggies, then add a simple dressing just before serving them. The dressing is lemon juice or wine vinegar (your choice), good quality olive oil, a little garlic salt, celery salt, cracked black pepper, a small amount of salt of your choice (pink, white, lava black, etc.) . It’s also a good spot for Mrs. Dash as a seasoning. Give it a good toss (stirring!) and then chill it for a while to let the flavors mix together, Stir before serving.

That should add some extra flavor to your summer suppers. Bon appetit!

Category: Economy