Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994 TAG: 9406080056
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It is rumored that Cardini, running low on food, rolled a service cart filled with kitchen staples to the center of the room and with great showmanship and aplomb prepared the salad that was to become a legend.
Cardini intended for his Caesar salad to be eaten as finger food, its tender, untorn Romaine lettuce leaves picked up. He did not include anchovies. Those came later as imposters tried to duplicate the salad's evasive, subtle taste. Cardini's Caesar did contain undercooked eggs, but that was before the days of serious salmonella scares.
Today, numerous bottled dressings - some good, some not so good - shorten the Caesar salad's preparation time and eliminate the egg worry. Among the most highly rated in a recent independent test was Cardini's Original Caesar Dressing.
Variations on the salads' ingredients range from shrimp and Romano cheese in Maui, Hawaii, to salt-cod croutons or grilled chicken and avocado in Manhattan.
In her book "In The Kitchen With Rosie" ($14.95, Alfred A. Knopf), cook Rosie Daley, whose cuisine is credited with contributing to the new slimmed-down, muscled-up Oprah Winfrey, includes a Caesar variation that delivers only 80 calories and 1.2 grams of fat per serving.
Variety is indeed the spice of salad life.
For the best salads, start with the best and freshest ingredients possible. Wash greens gently in a large basin of cold water; spin or pat them dry before storing.
To prevent the edges from browning, tear greens rather than cut them with a knife. Make sure the salad's ingredients are chilled and dry before adding dressing as water will dilute the dressing's flavor.
Don't think of salads as strictly vegetable combinations or as only suitable for serving on the side. Serve on salad greens fruit combinations such as apricot, peach or pear halves topped with tiny cream cheese balls rolled in chopped nuts, or pineapple spears and banana chunks rolled in chopped peanuts.
Make lengthwise cuts almost to the end of a small zucchini or summer squash, spread the slices apart and broil or grill. Serve over the squash salads such as wilted spinach, shrimp or chicken salad with almonds. Add chunks of cooked fish, meat, poultry, marinated tofu, tempeh or other protein sources to turn side salads into main-dish entrees.
Make even your salads' bowls edible: Mix potato and onion shreds with a beaten egg and a little melted butter and salt. Press mixture firmly in bottom and around sides of greased single-serving ovenproof bowls. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove shells from bowls and cool before filling with salads.
For a free, fun brochure that tells how to turn watermelon into assorted yummy dishes as well as a decorative boat or pig, call (800) 55-MELON or write The National Watermelon Promotion Board, P.O. Box 140065, Orlando, Fla. 32814-0065.
Other free salad recipe and idea brochures are available by sending self-addressed, stamped envelopes to: Entree Salad Recipes, America's Best Dressed Salads, The Association for Dressings and Sauces, Suite 500-G, 5775 Peachtree-Dunwoody Road, Atlanta, Ga. 30342; Fresh From the Garden, Ziploc vegetable bags, Dept. #4900-VF, P.O. Box 78980, New Augusta, Ind. 46278; Vidalia Onion Committee, P. O. Box 1609, Vidalia, Ga. 30474; National Salad Month, The Alden Group, 52 Vanderbilt Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017; National Barley Foods Council, Dept. BB, W. 905 Riverside, Suite 501, Spokane, Wash. 99201; North American Blueberry Council, P.O. Box 1036, Folsom, Calif. 95763; and T. Marzetti Company, 1105 Schrock Road, Suite 600, Columbus, Ohio 43229-0163.
SINGAPORE SPAM SALAD
7-LAYER MEXICAN SALAD
SOUTH OF THE BORDER SLAW
GARDEN GOODNESS SLAW
WATERMELON AND SPINACH SALAD
REFRIGERATED WATERMELON RIND PICKLES
CREAMY ONION DRESSING
TANGY BLUEBERRY POTATO SALAD
BLUEBERRY GREEN SALAD
SUMMER FRUIT AND BARLEY SALAD
CARDINI'S ORIGINAL CAESAR SALAD
MOCK CAESAR SALAD
BUTTER LETTUCE AND TOMATOES WITH V-8 VINAIGRETTE
SUBMARINE SALAD
by CNB