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WALDORF
SALAD: The original had just three ingredients
- diced apples, celery, and mayonnaise. Today's
apple-based salads might add pine nuts, pears,
and salmon.
phot: mary e. barley, picutearts |
Apples
put a crunch in fall salads
This season's fruit often appears
in homey desserts -
but now more chefs are tossing them with greens.
By Jennifer Wolcott | Correspondent of The Christian
Science Monitor
Autumn's apples, if not eaten out of hand, are most
often enjoyed in homey desserts. Cooks love to bake
them into pies, crisps, tarts, or simply with butter,
brown sugar, and a dash of cinnamon. The combination
of sweet and tart baked together and served warm
with a spoonful of vanilla ice cream is perhaps
the ultimate comfort food.
But the versatile apple is also excellent in savory
dishes, and, these days, many cooks are featuring
the fall fruit in great-tasting, creatively constructed
salads. Summer is over, but salad season is going
strong, and there's no better time to toss some
just-picked apples with those greens.
In the Monitor
The Waldorf Salad, created in 1896 by the mâitre
d'hôtel at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel,
is the grand dame of apple salads. Oscar Tschirky's
original recipe, which was an instant success, called
for only apples, celery, and mayonnaise. Since then,
many variations have sprouted, including those that
simply adapt the dish as an entrée with the
addition of strips of grilled salmon, chicken, smoked
turkey, or pork loin. Other variations hardly resemble
their 19th-century ancestor by including toasted
pine nuts, peanuts, chopped dates, grapes, sliced
pears, and even grapefruit slices.
But not every salad with apples is inspired by Mr.
Tschirky's classic creation.
Many of today's cooks, in a growing effort to support
local growers and buy the freshest produce they
can, are embracing a more European approach and
innovating recipes based on what's available that
day at their local farmer's market.
If watercress is featured at the market one week,
frisée the next, and dandelion greens another
week, that's what might show up on menus at restaurants
and takeout markets - along with apples and perhaps
toasted nuts of some kind (walnuts, almonds, and
pecans are good choices), and a soft cheese like
Roquefort, chèvre, or feta.
Virtually any leafy green can be tossed with apples,
toasted nuts, cheese, and a simple vinaigrette for
a winning salad. Or skip the greens, and toss apples
with carrots and raisins in a yogurt-based dressing
for a colorful, sweeter salad. Add boiled potatoes
and bacon for a heartier dish.
When making a salad with apples, one of the first
decisions is the variety of fruit. If only it were
as easy as choosing green-, red-, or gold-colored
apples. Literally thousands of varieties of apples
are grown throughout the world, yet only a few dozen
are grown commercially in the United States. Still,
the decision can be daunting.
To cut through the confusion, try a taste test.
Keep in mind that apples are typically either sweet
or tart in flavor and tender or crisp in texture.
Some are juicier than others. In each of these categories
- flavor, texture, and juiciness - ask yourself
what you like best.
If you're looking for a tart apple with a crisp
texture and not much juice, Granny Smith is a good
choice. Lesser-known varieties in the tart family
include Sierra Beauty, Golden Russett, and Macouns.
For a sweeter apple, Fuji, Gala, or Empire varieties
will satisfy. Macintosh, which strike a pretty good
balance in all three categories, is one of the most
popular choices for all types of dishes.
Once apples are sliced for salad, drizzle them with
lemon juice to keep them from turning brown. You
can also drop just-peeled slices into cold salted
water for a minute, another technique favored by
some cooks.
Dressing, whether it is a light vinaigrette or a
heavier yogurt-, sour cream-, or mayonnaise-based
concoction, can be made in the salad bowl and left
to sit (briefly) until the salad, constructed afterward
on top of the dressing, is ready to be tossed -
typically just before it is served.
Apple salads are a wonderful way to savor both the
autumn season and those lingering Indian summer
days before the yen for salads is replaced with
one for soups and stews. And who said an apple salad
can't be followed by a homey dessert?
Curried Apple and Chicken Salad
Debra Stark's salad is a popular item on the takeout
menu at her store, the Natural Gourmet, in Concord,
Mass. It was originally published in her cookbook
"Debra's Natural Gourmet Cookbook: A Second
Bite" (Keats Publishing).
For the salad:
1 to 1-1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken
1-1/2 cups seedless red grapes, halved
3 crisp apples (Granny Smith, Pink Ladies, or Braeburns),
cored and diced
1-1/2 cups celery (about four stalks), diced
1 red onion, diced
1 cup jicama, peeled and diced (optional)
Lettuce (optional)
For the dressing:
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup mayonnaise
Method:
In a large frying pan, bring one inch of water to
a light boil. Add chicken and simmer for about 10
minutes. While chicken is cooking, dice apples,
celery, onion, and jicama, if using.
Remove chicken and cool slightly. Cut into bite-sized
pieces and place in a salad bowl.
Add grapes and diced apples, celery, onion, and
jicama.
To make dressing, combine remaining ingredients
in a small bowl. Add half of the dressing to salad
and mix well (add additional dressing as necessary).
Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Refrigerate
for about one hour before serving. Serve on bed
of lettuce if desired.
Serves 4 to 6.
Blue Cheese, Apple, and Fennel Salad
Even in lobster country, autumn's apples are showing
up on restaurant menus. This recipe is from John
Shaw, executive chef at the Kennebunkport Inn, located
in the picturesque seaside village of Kennebunkport,
Maine.
For the salad:
1 head frisée lettuce (or substitute mesclun
greens)
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled
1 fennel bulb, sliced
For the dressing:
2 teaspoons lemon peel, grated
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
In a large salad bowl, mix frisée, apples,
walnuts, blue cheese, and fennel. In a separate
small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients.
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