Sunday, September 07, 2008

Waldork Salad

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.

13 comments:

Mary Coleman said...

That looks wonderful. Southerners love nothing better than to put mayo in any kind of salad. I like your thinking here!

Robert said...

Sounds perfect to me. I love apples and walnuts in salads, and nixing the mayo for blue cheese is a great call.

Nikki @ NikSnacks said...

Make your man a contributor. That would be cute.

Ms Brown Mouse said...

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.

Anna Haight said...

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.

Zoomie said...

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!

Dagny said...

Hmmm. I think I have most of those ingredients at home. Sounds like my kind of salad.

Kat said...

Looks delicious. Nice replacement of the mayo with the blue cheese -- I'm not a mayo girl myself. I'll have to try it.

cookiecrumb said...

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.

Unknown said...

Mmm the '08 version of the Waldorf sounds heavenly! Mmmm, yum.

The Spiteful Chef said...

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.

cookiecrumb said...

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.

maybelles mom said...

I love waldorf salad, though I use plain yogurt instead of mayo.