Who’s in the kitchen: Not your mother’s salad

Salads can take their place proudly at any stage of a meal. Crisp and crunchy or lightly cooked to perfection. They can be complimented with a delicately flavored dressing, and be served as a first course, without dulling your appetite. They also make perfect accompaniments to a main dish.

With added protein from meat, fish, eggs, cheese or nuts, salads are a satisfying meal in themselves.

Almost any food, fresh, cooked, frozen or canned, is a potential salad ingredient, offering a vast variety of delicious and nutritious combinations.

Whether it’s a Salad Nicoise from France or a Greek Salad, every salad should have a pleasing balance of color, flavor, and texture, giving it a positive eye appeal.

 Rich in vitamins and high in vital fiber content, while low in calories, salads are very much the food of today, when we are all more conscious about our health and well being. (Just be careful with the dressing, that can add on many unwanted calories).

 Before I share my salad recipe with you, I thought I’d share some interesting salad facts. 

Ever wonder where the name iceberg lettuce got it’s name?

In the 1930’s, Bruce Church (of Fresh Express)

formed an ice company that supported a growing wave of packing and shipping fresh heads of lettuce across the country in ice-packed rail cars.

As the trains bearing the cold heads of lettuce came through towns people would call out with excitement, “The icebergs are coming, the icebergs are coming!”

Fresh Express produces nearly 40 million pounds of salad each month.

Over 20 million servings of their salad are consumed every week.

The average American consumer eats about 26 pounds of lettuce each year.

Different nations have their salads at different points of a meal, and some even consider it frivolous. Salads consume a lot of space, demand attention, are delicate, and must be transported quickly. The French eat salad after the main course to cleanse the palate and to prepare it for the cheese or dessert. North Americans eat it mostly as an appetizer to get the gastric juices going. Eastern Mediterranean people always enjoy it with their main course and often throughout the meal.

One of my favorite salad creations is one I came up with at 4 a.m. while trying to be creative and staying awake at the same time.

 Salad nestled in baked wraps and topped with cascading fried angel hair pasta.

 The salad should be put together the day you are serving it.

The baked wraps and the fried angel hair pasta can be made up to a month in advance.

The salad dressing choice is yours.

Ingredients:

 n 2 heads of romaine lettuce, torn into small pieces

n 1 cup arugula

n 3 cucumbers peeled and sliced

n 8 mini colored peppers cut into rings

n 1/2 cup shredded carrots

n 32 grape tomatoes

n 8 wooden 5 inch skewers

n 8 ounces angel hair pasta uncooked

n 8 round or square wraps (they can be whole wheat, plain, or flavored)

n Canola oil (enough to fill the bottom of your large pot 1 inch high)

n 10 ounce stainless steel gravy boats (bought in a restaurant supply store)

n 16 ounces salad dressing of your choice (regular, light or non fat)

Place each wrap in the microwave for 10 seconds to soften it slightly and then mold into the gravy boat. The tops and sides of the wrap will come above and over the gravy boat. That will give it an interesting shape.

Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for about 8-10 minutes or till lightly brown. Remove from oven and invert onto a tray and let cool. Wraps will be a bit soft but will harden as they cool.

 Preheat a large pot filled with canola oil about 1 inch high. When oil is hot take an ounce of pasta and place it in the bottom of the pot, as soon as pasta starts to fry, quickly twist a fork into it and twirl around as you would twirl spaghetti on a fork when cooked. This whole process should take no longer than 10 seconds. Remove and place on a pan lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil.

Repeat until you have 8 sets of friend angel hair pasta. Set aside. 

Prepare the salad. Add dressing and toss right before serving. Place a baked wrap on each plate and fill with salad till it overflows onto the plate. Stick 4 grape tomatoes onto a skewer and place it in the salad on an angle. Lastly place the fried angel hair pasta on one side of the salad and gently pull it apart a little so it looks messy. Let it cascade down the side.

Judy Joszef is a pastry and personal chef as well as a party planner. She spent 18 years as a pastry chef at Abigael’s, The Cedar Club, Centro and T42 in the Five Towns, before launching her current business. She may be contacted via email at kneadthedough@aol.com.