#258_ Waldorf Salad

Waldorf Salad

Here's one way to use up your Fall harvest or bumper crop of apples. It is super easy to make and goes well with any dish on any occasion.

According to Wikipedia, this salad was first created between 1893 and 1896 at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City (the precursor of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which opened in 1931).

Oscar Tschirky, who was the Waldorf's maître d'hôtel is widely credited with creating the recipe. The original recipe did not contain nuts, but they had been added by the time the recipe appeared in the Rector Cook Book in 1928.

Here's my version of this salad:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup celery, diced
1 cup seedless grapes, halved
3 medium size sweet apples such as Braeburn or Fuji

Dressing:
4 tbsp mayo (or more if prefer)
1 tbsp juice of lime or lemon
1 tsp sugar

1) Toast nuts in a preheated 350 degrees oven for about 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2) Make the dressing by whisking the lemon juice, mayo and sugar together
3) Wash, core and dice apples, tossing them into the dressing as you dice or slice them to prevent the apples from getting discolored
4) Mix in the grapes and and celery and stir lightly just to blend everything together.
5) Chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours before serving
6) Stir in the walnuts before serving

Notes from MaMely:
1) This recipe serves 2-3, but recipe can be doubled or tripled easily.
2) Raisins can be substituted for grapes or you can add both
3) Serve cold on bed of lettuce

#4_ Amy's Ziti Pasta Salad

We had small get- together dinner today at one of our daughter's place. Why did I say "small"? That's because there's only me, hubby, daughter Amy and her family and the host family, Angela, Brian and Benjamin. For the Johnson family, that's just a small group.

I made the Pistachio Salad. Angela and Brian prepared Deli Sandwiches using french breads filled with deli meats, cheeses, etc., then sliced across depending how thick you want it. So it was custom slices or you may say cut by design. Amy made her famous Pasta Salad, the recipe of which I'm going to post. Everybody must have been so hungry everything was gone!

Ingredients for the Pasta Salad:

1 lb. pkg. ziti pasta, cooked
6 slices bacon, cooked, chopped
3 small carrots, coarsely grated
1 green pepper, finely chopped
1 small onion, minced

Dressing:
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cup miracle whip or mayo
2 TB white sugar
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
2 TB bacon grease

Procedure:
1. In a large bowl mix the cooked pasta, the green pepper, onion, carrots and the bacon
2. In another bowl, mix the miracle whip or mayo, sugar, garlic salt and the bacon grease
3. combine together and chill in the fridge

NOTES:
To cook pasta AL DENTE:

You need about 5 qts water for a 1 lb of pasta and a large pot to accommodate this much water. Bring water to a rapid boil. Add 1 TB salt and 1 TB olive oil. Gradually add the pasta and cook for 14 minutes. Its a good idea to use a timer to avoid over cooking your pasta.

To check for doneness, take a piece of pasta and break it. (This is how I always test my pasta). If you you don't see any white spot, its perfectly done. Or you can always use your taste bud by taking a bite. When there's no more taste of raw flour and is biteable but not crunchy or rubbery, then the pasta has reached AL DENTE state.

Take pasta out and drain thoroughly in a large colander stirring occasionally so they won't stick together. According to some culinary experts, never rinse the pasta because the sauce or dressing will slide off the pasta. You want the sauce to stick to the pasta!

How to cook the bacon:
You can cook the bacon two ways:
1. Cook it in a fry pan on top of stove
2. Or in the oven..
Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Place a piece of aluminum foil on a cookie sheet (for easy clean up) then line the bacon strips on the foil and bake it for about 20 minutes or till the bacon turn brown and crisp.