Salade Nicoise

by Mrs Marvel

Any recipe that uses a fancy spelling and a French word makes it seem like it’s more special than it probably is. Salade Nicoise purports to take inspiration from Nice, France. Nicoise style is generally associated with tomatoes, garlic, black olives & anchovies. This recipe does include the tomatoes and anchovies, so perhaps it is al la Nicoise.

Salade Nicoise

5 potatoes

2 T dry white wine

2 T wine vinegar

Dash each salt & pepper

3 T oil

2 cups cold, cooked green beans

3 tomatoes, quartered

1 cup French dressing

1 head butter lettuce

2 ( 6 1/2 or 7 ounce) cans white tuna, drained and broken into large chunks

1/2 cup Greek style olives (kalamata)

3 hard cooked eggs, halved

12 anchovy filets, drained and rolled

Capers

2 T finely chopped parsley

Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender. Drain. When cool enough to handle, peel and slice 1/8 inch thick. Pour wine over warm potato slices. Combine vinegar, salt and pepper, and oil. Pour over potatoes and marinate over night.

Spoon about 1/4 cup French dressing over beans and tomatoes and marinate at least 1 hour. Separate lettuce leaves and toss with 1/4 cup dressing. Arrange leaves around platter or bowl. Combine potatoes with beans and place in center of platter. Arrange tomatoes, eggs and olives around potato mixture. Place tuna chunks and anchovy filets on potato mixture. Fill center of each anchovy filet with a caper. Sprinkle additional capers over salad, if wanted. Garnish with parsley. Pass remaining French dressing when serving salad. Makes 6-8 servings.

Poppy Seed Dressing

by Mrs Marvel

This isn’t a dressing I like personally, but I do remember when it became really popular in the late 70s or 80s. It was all my parent’s friends talked about for some reason. Also, I found that onion juice is some kind of hair tonic these days. I’m not sure if it’s food grade, so you may want to substitute onion powder plus a liquid like water for the consistency.

Poppy Seed Dressing

1 cup sugar

2 tsp dry mustard

2 T salt

2/3 c vinegar

3 Tbls onion juice

2 c oil -Beat in slowly until thick

3 Tbls poppy seed – Beat until mixed

Good over cold cabbage – avocado – fresh grapes

Hot Chicken Salad

by Mrs Marvel

This is more like a tuna casserole but made with chicken. Could be good?

Hot Chicken Salad – Serves 6 450º 10-12 min

4 c diced cooked chicken

2 c thin sliced celery

2 c toasted bread cubes

1 c mayonnaise

1/4 c pickle relish

1/4 c evaporated milk

1 Tbs inst onion

1 Tbs lemon juice

1 t salt

3 drops hot pepper sauce

Mix all ingredients together. Place in baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/4 lb grated american cheese & 1/4 c whole blanched almonds

Guacamole Ring

by Mrs Marvel

As a native Californian, I eat avocados and guacamole all the time. People get really testy about their method of preparing guacamole, but I have never EVER seen it made in a ring. This is another Jello monstrosity and I am feeling attacked! I kid, of course, but who would put gelatin in guac??? Guacamole is a thing of beauty when made well and no mould or gelatinous binding is needed. Just dump it in a bowl and add freshly made tortilla chips. Mwah, pure heaven.

Guacamole Ring – 1 qt

1 envelope gelatin softened in 1/4 c water, stir over low heat until dissolved. Add 3/4 c cold water, 1/2 c Italian dressing. Add 1/2 c sour cream, 1 1/2 c mashed avocado, 1 T finely chopped onion, dash of Tobasco

Fruited Cheese Salad

by Mrs Marvel

From the Food section of a newspaper in Van Nuys, CA we find a Fruited Cheese Salad. At first I wasn’t quite sure what exactly that would be, but as it turns out, it belongs in Jello hell. Maybe the canapé recipe off to the side can make up for it. To compensate I included the back side of this clipping down below. It is sometimes fun to see what was in the paper – in this case real estate. I also hate-love the condescending copy “Frankly we recommend it specifically for those feminine affairs when a salad is a consciously fussy affair…” This is some low paid Food writer’s way of saying “I have to put this in the paper because the recipe came from the boss’s wife, but I’M not going to eat it…”

Fruited Cheese Molded Salad

2 cups pitted, cooked prunes

3 grapefruits

1 1/2 tablespoons plain gelatin

3 tablespoons cold water

1 pint cottage cheese

1 cup mayonnaise

3/4 cup chili sauce

1/4 pint whipping cream

Lettuce

Cut prunes into pieces. Peel grapefruit, remove sections and if sections are large, cut into halves. Soften gelatin in cold water and dissolve over hot water. Combine cottage cheese, mayonnaise, chili sauce and dissolved gelatin. Add stiffly beaten cream, prunes, grapefruit and blend thoroughly. Pour into a shallow pan and chill. Cut into squares and serve on crisp lettuce. Serves 10 to 12.