Recipe of the week from Salads: American celeriac (celery root) salad

This was going to be the dish of the week. I chose it because I have never (knowingly) eaten celeriac, and because it is recommended as good with ham, which is what I had decided to have for Sunday dinner. Unfortunately, availability intervened. For months I have been noticing celeriac when I have gone shopping, and thought “this I’ll have to try”, but then when I was going to buy one, it wasn’t available. I tried three supermarkets and found nothing, so I thought I would have to fall back on my second choice, potato salad.

4-6 servings.

1/2 celeriac root (about 250 g)
2 apples
50 g shelled walnuts

Dressing:
150 ml (150 g) mayonnaise
100 ml whipping cream
2-3 tsp lemon juice

Peel and julienne the celeriac and cook for a few minutes in lightly salted water. Drain and cool. Peel the apples and cut into cubes. Coarsely chop the walnuts, reserving a few whole kernels to use for garnish. Mix together celeriac, apple pieces and walnuts.

Mix together the cream, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Pour over the salad and stir to mix. Garnish with walnut kernels.

Once I have tried the salad with walnuts I will replace the photo with one that has walnuts in it.


Edit:

I went to a supermarket (a different one from the ones I visited yesterday) to get some ingredients for the potato salad after I posted the recipe, and guess what I found? Celeriac. So I decided to make this salad after all as dish of the week.

This was not the end of my ingredient problems. The ham was in the oven, getting the final glaze and the potato wedges were roasting when I began assembling the salad. The julienned celeriac was cooked and cooled, I had a nice sweet-tart apple all chopped up, the sauce was smooth and nice – and then I opened the packet of walnut kernels to discover they were rancid, a good couple of months before the sell-by date. I had no choice but to make a run to the small after-hours supermarket that is conveniently situated about 5 minutes from where I live. They had no walnuts, so I had to improvise and bought pecan nuts instead. They have a flavour reminiscent of walnuts, although they are sweeter and not as flavourful or as crunchy.

And now for the Review:

This salad is actually a variation on the classic Waldorf salad, using a slightly more elaborate sauce and cooked celeriac instead of raw celery, so the flavour is milder and the salad is not as crunchy as the original. I served it on the side with slices of smoked ham that I glazed with a mixture of ketchup and brown sugar.

The salad had a nice texture, it was mild with bursts of stronger flavour from the nuts and celeriac, but I should have used a tart apple to get more flavour. It went down well with the ham and garlic-flavoured potato wedges.

Sample recipe from Salads: Fruity chicken salad

This lunch salad sounds good, except I would either serve it without the dressing or use crème fraiche instead.

4 servings.

1 whole grilled or broiled chicken
1/2 head of white cabbage
300 g green grapes
3-4 red apples
1 lemon (optional)

Dressing:
3 tbs lemon juice
Salt and pepper
5 tbs salad oil

Remove the bones from the chicken and cut the meat into bite-sized pieces.

Chop the cabbage (the photo shows thin cabbage strips). Cut the grapes in half and remove the seeds. Wash and core the apples and cut them into large pieces.

Put the cabbage in the bottom of a salad bowl and put the remaining ingredients (except the dressing) on top.

Stir together the lemon juice, salt, pepper and oil to make the dressing. Pour over the salad. It can also be served with yogurt for dressing.

Sample recipe from Salads: Hot orange salad

It doesn’t say what this salad is supposed to be served with, but since the dressing includes both sugar and spice I rather think it’s meant to be a dessert. I can also imagine it as being good with roast pork, duck and chicken.

Serves 1-2.

1-2 oranges

Dressing:
75 ml water
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs vinegar
3-5 cloves

Peel the orange(s) and cut into thin slices (the photo shows the orange with the rind cut off, making pentagonal slices).
Mix together sugar, water, vinegar and cloves in a saucepan. Heat and let it simmer for a few minutes (i.e. cook until the sugar is melted). Pour over the orange slices and serve immediately.

Sample recipe from Salads: French tuna salad

Serves 1-2.

1 leaf iceberg lettuce
1/2 can tuna in water
2-3 whole olives (black, according to the photo)
1 sliced hard boiled egg
1 tomato

Dressing:
2 tsp vinegar
1/2 clove garlic, pressed
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 tbs salad oil

Mix the sauce and let stand for a while to let the flavours meld. Chop the salad leaf and put on a plate or plates. Add chunks of tuna, olives, egg slices and tomato wedges.

Pour the dressing over the salad or serve on the side.

Sample recipe from Salads: French farmer’s salad

This is a light salad that might make a nice light meal or an entrée to a bigger meal.

1-2 servings:

1-2 eggs
1/4 head of iceberg lettuce
1/4 head of lettuce (the photo shows some kind of curly lettuce that looks like the decorative kind I sometimes grow on my balcony. I don't think the type is really that important)
75 g salted bacon
1 slice white (French) bread

Dressing:
Salt and pepper
1/2 clove garlic, pressed
2 tsp vinegar
1 tbs oil (I would use olive oil)

Mix all dressing ingredients together and refrigerate for a while.

Cook the eggs (in the accompanying photo they are medium well done, i.e. the white is cooked, but the yolk is soft). Trim and wash the lettuce and tear into pieces. Cut the bacon into cubes and fry until almost crisp, then cut the bread into cubes and brown in the bacon fat.

Pour a little of the sauce onto each plate. Put the lettuce on top, then the bacon, then the eggs (cut in half, according to the photo), and top with bread cubes.

The recipe suggests adding ham to the salad to make it more hearty.



Edit:

I made this salad for dinner. For the second lettuce I used a type called “Lambhagasalat” after the place where it’s grown, and the vinegar was white wine vinegar, as I thought regular white vinegar would be too sharp for the vinaigrette.

Following the instructions and the photograph in the book, I tore the salad up coarsely, but it really should be torn into small pieces, as cramming large pieces into your mouth will leave your lips and cheeks smeared with vinaigrette. I fried fatty bacon to get plenty of fat to fry the bread cubes in.

The salad was an interesting collection of flavours and textures: the bland smoothness of the egg, the oily crunchiness of croutons, the salty, chewy bacon, then the fresh, crisp lettuce and the tart, pungent flavour of the vinaigrette.

These flavours do not blend well enough when the salad is made according to instructions. Another time I would tear the lettuce leaves up into small pieces and toss with the vinaigrette, then toss the bread and bacon, add to the salad and top with the egg. And I would serve beer with it.

Recipe from Moroccan Cooking: Orange salad

It isn’t clear from the book whether this is supposed to be a side dish, an entrée or a dessert, but I can imagine it being good as any of those. I can even imagine eating it, well chilled, for refreshment on a hot afternoon instead of ice cream.

I was unable to find the Moroccan name for this salad, but I did find information saying it is good served with lamb dishes.

Serves: 6.
Time: 15 minutes.

6 ripe oranges
8 dates, chopped
1/4 cup blanched almonds, slivered
Orange flower water
1 tbs mint leaves, chopped
Ground cinnamon

Peel oranges, removing all pith, and slice crossways. Put in a shallow dish with dates and almonds and flavour to taste with orange flower water. Sprinkle lightly with mint and cinnamon and serve.