leftover salad with dressing and new recipes

Roses4me

Wed, Oct 03 2012, 5:25 pm

I make a garden salad often with mayo based dressing and leftovers don't stay well..I usually have it in the fridge for 2 days then throw it out because no one wants to eat it.

Is it because it's a mayo dressing? Do others stay good longer?

What salads are good for yom tov and new dressings I can try?

wispalover

Wed, Oct 03 2012, 5:50 pm

Honestly I never dress my salads for this reason. Dressing generally make the leaves soggy and unappetizing. I always put out dressing with the salad for people to help themselves- especially in my family where so few people like dressing.
I would also avoid putting in a ton of 'crunchies' because they go soggy and unappealing too, be it bissli, flat breads, cashew, croutons.. whatever.

I always do a basic green salad (romaine lettuce, cucumber, red onion) and build from there. I made add terra stix and cashews, craisins and cashews, bissli and croutons. I find the crunchies make the salad not necessarily the vegetables. The only exception to this is the cold roasted sweet potato salad I posted to this site a few days ago because that is delicious even undressed and doesnt need crunchies to make the salad. It is a fall dish, so I am linking to it. BTW- I also use a creamy maple dressing for it sometimes. The maple dressing is below.

I call it my tropical salad- but I invented the recipe myself:

Tropical Pomegrante Salad

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS
SALAD ITEMS

2 heads romaine lettuce
3 large sweet potatoes, cut into very small cubes
1 large pomegrante, de-seeded
1/8 onion, very small dice
1/8 C craisins
Handful sweetened banana chips, crushed
1/8 C oil
onion powder
garlic powder
salt
pepper

PINEAPPLE VINAIGRETTE

1/4 cup pineapple juice
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
freshly ground black pepper to taste
salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

SALAD
1, Preheat oven to 400.

2. Toss sweet potato with oil, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and black pepper. Spread onto cookie sheet and cook until browned and tender.

3. Combine rest of ingredients, add sweet potato when at room temperature.
4. Toss with pineapple vinaigrette. Serve Immediately.

PINEAPPLE VINAIGRETTE

1. In a cruet or jar with a lid, combine pineapple juice, red wine vinegar, oil, pepper and salt. Cover and shake well

Maple Dressing:

1/2 c canola oil
1/4 c maple syrup
1/4 c mayonnaise
3 Tbs white wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together syrup,mayonnaise,vinegar and sugar in medium bowl. Whisk oil in gradually until mixture thickens slightly. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Happy 2B

Wed, Oct 03 2012, 6:54 pm

I try to dress only a portion of the salad at a time or even take a handfull of lettuce per a person and mix it right before serving that way I don't waste the salad.

salads that last even after being dressed don't have lettuce or are made with cabbage like purple cabbage salad. or Israeli salad.

Do a search for purple cabbage salad those are yummy.

etky

Thu, Oct 04 2012, 2:04 am

I don't keep anything with lettuce that has been dressed. I only serve dressed salad when we have guests and then I try to appraise how much will be eaten before I dress it. Breaks my heart to toss the leftovers but it really doesn't keep well. Ditto for crunchies like wispalover said.
Just last chag I had to toss tons of dressed salad because only my husband and I ate it - guests weren't interested.I hadn't realized they were more of the meat and potatoes types.
Sometimes I'll make individual salad plates for a first course when we are just family and dress each plate individually with the dressing that each family member prefers. No wastage that way.

ra_mom

Thu, Oct 04 2012, 11:43 pm

What others have said.

If you need to specifically make salads ahead of time and last a few days in the fridge make things like

marinated salad
corn salad
bean salad
tomato salad
cucumber salad
cole slaw
carrot salad

(basic rule of thumb is salads made with just one vegetable ingredient usually stay well)

Cookies n Cream

Thu, Oct 04 2012, 11:49 pm

ra_mom wrote:

You forgot your radish salad!