Romaine - Nectarine - Havarti Salad

R3A2 BUSCH'S SUPERMARKET'S ROMAINE - NECTARINE - HAVARTI SALAD

When I lived in Ann Arbor, I loved the local supermarket chain, Busch's. From time to time their recipe creator would come by the store near my house with one of her latest creations. One summer featured this salad. I fell in love with it. I made it so often that summer that I became tired of it. Now I know that if I limit it to once or twice a season, it is always a big hit.

     SALAD INGREDIENTS
1 head romaine, sliced into narrow strips.

I cut the big leaves vertically into thirds, then slice them to make strips about 2" x 1/8". I usually use less than the whole head or else the result has too much lettuce.

3-4 nectarines, diced ~1/4".

I leave the skin on. If they're big, 3 is enough. When I can't find nice nectarines, I use red grapes (half a pound? a whole pound? I'll have to check next time), sliced in half, or ~2 big oranges, peeled and diced. Peaches are fine, too. I peel the peaches but I don't peel the nectarines.

1/2 lb havarti, diced ~1/4"

Busch's said "lite" but my view is that 1. when they reduce the fat (and the sugar, when there's sugar, not relevant for cheese, of course): A. the result is less favorful, and B. they add things that may be worse than fat or sugar, and 2. if you don't want to eat any fat or sugar, eat celery. Plus it is my understanding that you need some fat to digest and to extract the nutrients from raw greens. The dressing for this salad does not use much fat so you get it from the cheese.

1/3 medium red onion, diced 1/4 "

Busch's said 1/2 Vidalia onion, sliced, but I like the red color and I think matching the size of the cheese and nectarines looks nicer.

      DRESSING INGREDIENTS
  Amounts in original:
1/4 c. apricot fruit spread (I use Smucker's)
3 T cider vinegar
2 tsp walnut oil
1 tsp Tabasco
salt and pepper (utterly unnecesary with the Tabasco)
  My daughter says that this is not enough dressing so I ~double it:
     1/2 c. jam
     ~1/3 c. cider vinegar
     4 tsps walnut oil
     2 tsp Tabasco

      INSTRUCTIONS
Whisk together the dressing ingredients. Or forget the whisk and put them all in a jar, cover it, and shake to blend. Add to completed salad or serve on the side.
Put the lettuce in the bowl. Sprinkle on the nectarine, cheese and onion. I do them in sort-of layers. They won't cover the surface so they're always be places where you see all three. WARNING: DO NOT TOSS. If you do, the havarti, which is heavy, ends up on the bottom. Instead, convince the diners to dig down with those salad tongs. I suppose the best thing would be to serve the salad in individual bowls and pass the dressing. Maybe next time for company, I'll do that.

rjm 2003? original lost, re-typed 5/22/06, rev 5/5,23/14

Texas Caviar

                 HALF* RECIPE OF TEXAS CAVIAR (VEGAN)

Combination of Nina's A2News recipe and a web recipe on Hints from Heloise

Per Heloise:   Serving Size: 12   Preparation Time : 24:00

     *Divided in 2010 because the original makes way too much

     compared to the other salads for New Year's.  Some

     additional notes were added on the printout of 2004 over

     the years and are incorporated here.

8 oz Pace brand picante sauce, medium hot (half a 16 oz. jar)

1 can (15.5oz) blackeyed peas, drained

half a (15.8 oz) can white hominy, drained (~1 cup?)

1/2 medium green pepper, diced

1/2 medium white onion, diced

2 roma tomatoes, skinned, seeded and diced

cilantro - about 1/4 cup, finely chopped

     (=~ 1 oz before removing stems)

1/2 medium jalapeno ‑‑ seeded and chopped

2 scallions, chopped, white and green both

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 T sugar (or less)

1/4 tsp salt (or less or none)

1 T black pepper ‑‑ coarsely ground (or more **)

1 T cumin powder (or more**)

1 1/2 T lime juice (or more**)

Mix all ingredients together and marinate in refrigerator for 24

hours or more.  A few hours might be enough if you need Tex Cav in a hurry.

** In 2010, I was following the full recipe and forgot to divide these ingredients in half, so used 2 T each of black pepper and cumin, and 3 T lime juice.  It was fine.

                       rjm 9/2;11/23/02;1/4/03;11/11/04;1/3/11

Broccoli Salad

 
PHIL'S AUNT SHAYNA'S BROCCOLI SALAD
(R3A2 VERSION)
(This is approximately 1.5 times Shayna's recipe.  The original was never enough for our New Year's Eve party.)
Fine if made a day or two before - but see WARNING

PREPARATION - THE BROCCOLI

     2-3 broccoli crowns (about 3 qts after cutting)

Cutting:  Divide crowns into tiny trees, 1/2 to 3/4" tall, by cutting the stem at branch points and then cutting or tearing to divide.  Slice the remaining stem portions very thin and cut larger slices into 1/2" squares.
Cooking:  Shayna said to steam the broccoli for 1 minute. I prefer to blanch it.  Fill a dutch oven or other large pot ~ 2/3 full with water. Add salt if desired, maybe 1/2 tsp. Bring to boil. Throw in broccoli and cook (high heat) for about 3 minutes.  This will be approximately the time it takes for the water to begin boiling again (not necessarily big bubbles). Broccoli should be bright green but crisp rather than soft.  Drain, cool down with cold water, and drain again. Immediately refrigerate until ready to serve. I cover the broccoli while it is in the refrigerator because broccoli does smell.

PREPARATION - THE DRESSING
Mix the following ingredients together in a bowl with a cover and refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.
     1 1/2 c. sunflower seeds (or pine nuts)
I prefer sunflower seeds to pine nuts for this recipe, and not just because they are cheaper.  I like their taste, crunch, and appearance better. I also prefer raw to roasted-salted but have used both. Check for rancidness, though, especially with raw seeds, before using. I store seeds in the freezer to keep them unrancid longer.
     1 1/2 c. dried currants (or raisins or dried cranberries or
               cherries)

I like currants best, although they weren't in Shayna's version, because they are about the same size as the sunflower seeds and their sweetness is concentrated.  But I've used all the other dried fruits, too, and they're fine. Dried cherries are probably my second favorite, but then I lived in Michigan a long time.
     1/2 large red onion, diced (~ 3/4 c. if you measure)
The red onion turns the dressing pink.  If you don't care about this so much, you can use some other color onion.  I like red, myself.

     1 heaping c. Miracle Whip or mayonnaise
            (1 1/8 c. if you measure)
My husband likes Miracle Whip better so that's all I ever buy.  It also happens to have less fat than either regular OR light mayonnaise.

     3 T. red wine vinegar
(I once used fancy pino gris white wine vinegar and it was lovely.  The red of the vinegar does not affect the pink color of the dressing that much.  That's really from the red onion.)

      1/2 c. sugar

      1-2 T. lemon juice (juice from about 1/3 average lemon)

      Salt (especially if you do not use salted seeds)

      Black Pepper (maybe about 1/4 tsp)

WARNING:  NEVER mix broccoli with dressing until ready to serve. The dressing, because of the acids in the vinegar and lemon juice, bleaches the broccoli to an ugly olive green.  That means that leftovers will look ugly but by then you won't mind because you will know that the salad tastes great.

FINAL ASSEMBLY

When ready to serve, dump dressing into large serving bowl and then mix in the broccoli by one cup scoops. The broccoli should be spread evenly through the dressing.  You could put in the broccoli first, or put all the broccoli into the dressing at once, but those both seem to make it take longer to achieve the right appearance.  Sometimes I forget this, and then I learn it again.
This salad looks very pretty and is a very popular item on a buffet table.

The original recipe had proportionally more mayo and sugar, with Shayna's advice to "use less." It also had more onion.  I've  tinkered to suit my taste.

PARVE. VEGETARIAN.  If made with egg-free mayonnaise, VEGAN.

Laptop versions 12/4/01;1/5/08;4/25/08;3/29/09;01/03/11 rjm
typo corr 10/17/12