Don't you hate Waldorf Salad? It's so paleolithic. (It is. The original recipe is over a hundred years old.)And it's drenched in mayonnaise.
Now, I like mayonnaise but I can't face a plate of apple chunks gooshing around in white... um, goo.
But we had apples, lovely Gravenstein apples from ChileBrown's tree. And we had a fresh bag of walnuts.
We figured "apples and walnuts, that's pretty much the backbone of Waldorf Salad. Let's take this fusty antique dish to infinity and beyond!"
Without looking at a cookbook, we just went with a sort of natural flow.
A little chopped up heart of Romaine lettuce. The apples and walnuts. Hey, a chopped up pear or two, too.
Now here's where it balanced out into ideal-ness. Some small chunks of blue cheese. And a dressing made from pear-apple cider vinegar, plus a dash of fruity olive oil. (Salt, pepper, natch.)
It's a 21st century retooling of a gooshy old relic.
Awesome photo by Cranky. I know, I should just GIVE him this blog.
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13 comments:
That looks wonderful. Southerners love nothing better than to put mayo in any kind of salad. I like your thinking here!
Sounds perfect to me. I love apples and walnuts in salads, and nixing the mayo for blue cheese is a great call.
Make your man a contributor. That would be cute.
Isn't that funny, I never knew you made woldorf salad with mayo - my mum used oil & vinegar so that's what I do - mayo would just make things all gluey.
I like Cranky's blog too, but you could do a switch and do a guest column on each others ;-). I like Waldorf if it uses Kewpie mayo. Otherwise.. I like your version.
I used to love a similar one made with wasabi somewhere in there - got it at SF Art Institute when I worked there and it was like yours, a combination of Waldorf and Caesar, except it had chicken and the wasabi tang. Killer!
Hmmm. I think I have most of those ingredients at home. Sounds like my kind of salad.
Looks delicious. Nice replacement of the mayo with the blue cheese -- I'm not a mayo girl myself. I'll have to try it.
Hey, all: If you want to read some old-timey versions of Waldorf, click on Elise's blog (the first link in my post) and read the comments. There are folks who use marshmallows and sugar!!
I am thrilled that you all like the non-mayo version, perhaps with the blue cheese.
Sigh. Apples and walnuts seem SO seasonal just now.
Mmm the '08 version of the Waldorf sounds heavenly! Mmmm, yum.
Have I mentioned frequently enough how much I detest mayonnaise? Ugh. Any recipe that strays away from it is a-okay by me. However, I cannot endorse the use of blue cheese. I understand that others love it. I respect that. But I openly lie to people when I fear they may offer me blue cheese in a dish by saying I'm allergic to penicillin mold. This is neither true (no allergies here) nor possible (according to my allergist fiance--and I don't put lying about this past him). But it protects me nonetheless. Do you think this could be done with a sharp pecorino romano? Because I would eat the hell out of that.
Spiteful Chef: Totally use a different cheese.
I know what you mean about not liking blue cheese; it kind of stings your tongue? And there's that throw-uppy smell? Well, I think I just described all cheeses.
I love waldorf salad, though I use plain yogurt instead of mayo.
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