Salads

Salads

German Potato Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 pound bacon
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup water
  • 6 medium size potatoes
  • 2 teaspoons celery seed
  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • Parsley
  • Chopped green onion

Directions

  1. Cook bacon until crisp; drain and crumble.
  2. Peel and boil the potatoes in a pot of water until you can easily pierce a potato with a fork. You may steam potatoes also.
  3. Drain fat. Cook onion and celery in fat until just tender. Blend in flour, sugar, salt, celery seed, and pepper to taste.
  4. Add vinegar and water. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Add bacon and potatoes; heat thoroughly, tossing lightly so as not to break up the potato slices.
  5. Garnish with parsley and green onion. Can be served warm or chilled, but you taste the bacon fat a bit more when it's chilled.
German Potato Salad

Macaroni Salad

Ingredients

  • 4 cups cooked macaroni, drained, rinsed, cooled
  • 4 boiled eggs, chopped
  • 1 large cucumber, deseeded and diced
  • 1 large onion, finely diced
  • 1/2 to 1 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon prepared mustard
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients. You may add more mayonnaise. Some salad dressings and mayonnaise are thick and you could add water to thin them.
  2. Refrigerate a few hours before eating.

Tip: You can add diced cheese, diced ham, peas, diced green peppers, or other sweet vegetables.

Tip: You could substitute marinated cucumbers for celery. Just slice young, small cucumbers, and let them marinate in water with a teaspoon of salt and 1/8 cup of vinegar for a few hours. The cucumber slices retain their crispness and possess a little tartness.

Macaroni Salad

Pasta Salad Italiano

Ingredients

  • 4 cups cooked, drained, rinsed spiral pasta
  • 1/2 cup shredded carrot
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pepperoni
  • 3/4 cup evaporated milk
  • 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup sliced, quartered zucchini
  • 1/2 cup sliced ripe black olives
  • 1/3 cup sliced green olives
  • 2 tablespoon cider vinegar
  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise

Directions

  1. Boil the pasta in water with a three tablespoons of vegetable oil until the pasta is soft. Drain the water by pouring the pasta and water into a colander.
  2. Mix the pasta, zucchini, carrot, olives, and pepperoni in a large bowl.
  3. Stir vinegar into evaporated milk until thickened.
  4. Blend in mayonnaise and Parmesan cheese.
  5. Pour over pasta mixture, and stir carefully until coated.
  6. Chill.
Pasta Salad Italiano

Rice Noodle Salad

Ingredients

Salad

  • 8 ounces (or 200 grams) package of rice noodles
  • 2 large carrots
  • 1 large cucumber
  • 1 cup of bean sprouts
  • Medium size yellow onion
  • 1 package of tofu
  • Frying oil
  • 1/2 cup of peanuts

Sauce

  • 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 cup of soy sauce
  • Between 1/4 and 1/2 cup of fresh lime juice
  • 6 cloves of minced garlic
  • 4 finely diced jalapeños or green chillies

Directions

  1. Prepare the sauce the night before making this dish. Finely mince the garlic and jalapeños, and mix with the vinegar, soy sauce, and lime juice. You may add the sliced onions to the sauce to soften the onions.
  2. Cut the tofu into rectangles of 1/4 inch thick. Deep fry the tofu until golden brown on both sides. After tofu cools, cut into narrow strips.
  3. Bring a pot of water to boil and add the rice noodles. Be careful! Rice noodles cook very fast and are ready within 5 minutes. I like the noodles a little firm. Strain the water and place the rice noodles in a large salad bowl and let cool. I drizzle a little olive oil to stop the noodles from sticking. Then I add the sauce.
  4. I julienne the carrots and the cucumber using an Asian shredder, available from Asian grocery stores. If you julienne correctly, the carrots and cucumber will look like angel hair pasta.
  5. Thoroughly mix the bean sprouts, tofu, carrots, and cucumbers with the rice noodles. Sprinkle peanuts on top.
  6. Refrigerate the salad, before consuming. This is a cold, but delicious salad.

Tip: You can mix and remove any vegetables. For example, Vietnamese add finely diced mint leaves and green beans to the salad.

Rice Noodle Salad

Rice Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 and a half cups of long-grain rice
  • 1 cup of finely chopped onions
  • 1 cup of chopped bell pepper
  • 1 cup of chopped pickles
  • 4 chopped boiled eggs.
  • Salt.
  • Pepper
  • Salad dressing
  • Mustard

Directions

  1. Place rice in a pot and add three cups of water, a half teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of butter, margarine, or oil. Cover and simmer under a low heat until the rice absorbs all the water.
  2. Mix all ingredients together except the rice. Add plenty of salad dressing to cover all the ingredients. I also add a little pickle brine to make the mixture soupy. Add Salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Once the rice has cooled, I crumble the rice and carefully blend it in the salad. I add one part rice to one part mix to create a balance of flavors.
  4. Refrigerate over night to let the rice absorb the liquid.
Rice Salad

Russian Potato Salad

Ingredients

  • 1 small, finely diced onion
  • 1 can of peas (drained) or one of frozen peas
  • 1 large pickle
  • 4 whole eggs
  • 1 sweet apple, finely diced
  • 5 potatoes
  • 4 tablespoons of Mayonnaise salad dressing
  • 1/2 pound of beef (optional)

Directions

  1. Add the eggs to a pot of water and boil. Let the eggs boil in the water for 10 minutes after the water begins boiling. Drain the hot water and add cold water to the pot. Then peel the eggs in the cold water. Finally, let the eggs cool.
  2. Finely dice and mix the onion, pickle, apple, and hard boiled eggs.
  3. Add several tablespoons of pickle broth and the can of peas. If you use frozen peas, let the peas thaw in water and drain the water completely. Frozen peas are firmer than canned peas.
  4. Boil the piece of meat in water for two hours. If meat is especially tough, then boil longer. Then dice the meat and add to salad.
  5. I peel the potato skin before adding to water. Boil the potatoes until soft. If you can easily pierce the potato with a fork, then the potatoes are ready. The rule of thumb is the salad should be half potatoes and the other half the other ingredients.
  6. Add the salad dressing and mix thoroughly. I mix in the potatoes last because they can be mashed and broken down by mixing. The salad should be a slightly watery. Then allow the salad to sit in the refrigerator for six hours or more to let the potatoes absorb the flavors and liquids of the salad.

Tip: This salad is unusual because the pickles, peas, and apple adds the right balance of sour and sweetness to the salad. Salt and pepper is not necessary.

Tip: You can add carrots to the salad. Just peel the carrots and boil in water with the potatoes. Then dice and add to the salad.

Tip: You can use fast pickles for pickles with a more crunch. Add sliced cucumbers in a brine of one tablespoon of salt with 1 part vinegar and 4 parts water. Cucumbers are ready in four hours after they loose half their size.

Russian Potato Salad