I’ve got to just say it and not be ashamed: I’m not sick of heavy, rich foods yet. Serve me up a hearty lamb stew, slather some rich sauce all over my bloody rare red meat, and I’ll take a side of creamy, garlic-smashed potatoes to go with that. I’m still game, even though I ate myself silly during the holidays.
The difference is that I just don’t want the portions I devoured last week. Instead, give me some very modest portions of the rib-sticking foods and fill the rest of my plate with some greens, please. A cold, fresh salad is just the thing to balance out the warming winter foods.
For our Christmas celebration with some friends last week, they brought this amazing fennel, arugula and green apple salad. I’d pretty much eat anything if there was arugula in it, but thankfully this salad was out of this world. Even the kid crowd liked the citrus-y dressing and the shredded fennel and apple.
The apple and citrus got me thinking about this beet, orange and apple salad, a combination that might be just as good as chocolate and, well, anything. The only greens here are beet greens, but don’t let that stop you. Beet greens are one of my favorite greens and a perfect compliment for this salad.
Bob, this one’s for you: crisp escarole salad with garlicky anchovy dressing. Kona, stay far away, because there are a lot of anchovies in this dressing, which should actually make it perfectly tasty if you’re not a vegetarian.
I have to include my favorite gourmet mesclun salad here, because it is still truly my very favorite salad. We could have it every night and not tire of it. Lately, we’ve been using toasted pine nuts instead of the usual slivered almonds and it’s infinitely better. So sorry, Almond, but a fact’s a fact. We’ve also been tossing in some grape tomatoes and snap peas. It’s a winner.
What’s your favorite salad to balance out the rich winter foods all over your plate?
Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jan 04, 2010 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
