TIP OF THE DAY: Christmas Salad | The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures - The Nibble Webzine Of Food AdventuresTIP OF THE DAY: Christmas Salad | The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures
Need something to bring to Christmas dinner? We’re updating this popular post from last year:
Make a beautiful red-and-green Christmas salad by adding “red” greens to your vegetable mix. Or make a colorful and delicious beet salad.
CHRISTMAS SALAD RECIPE
If you can’t find the more exotic red lettuces—red endive, red leaf lettuce, red mustard greens, red oak lettuce, red romaine and the new red watercress—most stores carry the naturally red-veined chard, baby kale and radicchio. If you like, you can mix them with regular green leaf lettuces; but we prefer to keep our Christmas salad in holiday colors.
For more color and texture, slice thin rings of red and green bell peppers.
Use cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes. They not only taste better than out-of-season tomatoes; they look better in the salad.
Slice water chestnuts into thin disks as “tree ornaments.”
Instead of regular table salt, add more flavor with a seasoned salt, like saffron salt, fennel salt or other artisan salt blend.
If you don’t want to make a Christmas salad with greens, a beet salad has the same holiday colors. Photo by Sarsmis | IST.
Use an elegant vinaigrette. Try fine olive oil with sherry vinegar or Champagne vinegar in a 3T:2T proportion. Add a pinch of dry mustard plus a pinch of salt and fresh-ground pepper to taste.
BEET SALAD
Lacking the time to make pickled beets from scratch, we used Aunt Nellie’s Pickled Beets & Onions to make this quick salad:
Ingredients
2 jars (16 ounces) sliced pickled beets with onions (or plain pickled beets with a thin-sliced small red onion)
2 cups baby spinach leaves or red-veined chard
1/2 cup crumbled fresh goat cheese (optional)
Walnut halves for garnish (optional)
Olive oil (optional)
10 leaves fresh basil, sliced into a chiffonade
PreparationIngredients
1. Empty beets into a large bowl.
2. We used the liquid in the pickled beets for the salad dressing. If you want you can add a small amount of olive oil to taste.
3. Mix in the spinach/chard and basil leaves.
4. Place into serving dish. Top with goat cheese and sprinkle on walnuts.
