From a reader:
If you ever do that
salad - it's 2 big Delicious apples, one small ripe banana, a generous
handful of mini marshmallows, 1/2 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts, and
heavy whipped cream just slightly sweetened with powdered sugar and that
dash of vanilla.
Only
Delicious apples work - and our stores have had every couture apple
known to man - Fuji, Gala, etc. etc., and lots of tart green apples -
but no Delicious apples. So, when I saw D's I bought them immediately.
That "salad" was a staple for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.
Garnish with a stemmed maraschino cherry to the eternal delight of
children and the young at heart.
Anyway,
the powdered sugar has a little cornstarch in it, and if you use heavy
cream, the salad won't weep. It's best made no more than a couple hours
before eating. Don't peel the apples. But if you have it for a noon
meal, it'll be perfectly fine for supper. It tastes great the next day,
too, but may look a little glum.
................
Anyway,
years ago I was talking to a fellow banker who later became a great
friend. She said she didn't like Waldorf salad. We were talking about
holiday meals. ND's always had a huge relish tray. Watermelon pickles,
pickled crabapples, pickled beets, a plethora of olives, pickles etc.
She was raised in Florida and that wasn't a thing there. Well, some
years later, she and her husband were guests for Tgiving or Xmas. She
raved about the salad and asked what it was. I said "Waldorf salad and
you don't like it". We howled. There is another Waldorf salad made
with mayonnaise ... no wonder!
We're
both good cooks and have eaten lots of meals together. Her Dad had a
country store, meat market, gas pump in rural Florida. Lots of
similarities in country cooking even 1800 miles apart. The difference
seems to be that all vegetables there met one of 2 fates. They were
either dredged in cornmeal and fried, or they were thrown in a pot with a
ham hock and boiled to smithereens. In ND, we just creamed
everything. I had told her that we worshipped the first baby lettuce
from the garden and made a dressing with cream.... The first time she
had that was an epiphanical moment for her. She had never had creamed
green beans nor creamed new potatoes and baby peas until she met me.
So, we creamed everything green. They either fried it or dissolved it in "pot likker".
Oh
- I'm also making calabacitas. I made the 3 bean salad and went to put
it in the fridge - spied the zucchini, and realized I had planned
another side dish. Grill the corn cobs, halve the zucchini and grill
that. Grill onion slices and of course, the green chile is already
charred. Anyway, that stuff all just gets a good char. I strip the
corn from the cob, chop the zukes and onion and actually finish cooking
everything in a skillet on the grill. In the winter I may occasionally
skip the grill manuever, but it's a much better dish if each component
has been charred. A dear friend of mine's Mom is from a family who's
been in NM all 300 years. She adds a little finely diced carrot and
that's lovely. What a treasure to get to know her. She's been dead for
several years now, but just folded me into her family and let me help
in the kitchen. I was honored and her 3 daughters (4 sons) told me that
it was nearly unheard of to be allowed to cook with her. She taught me
lots about traditional NM food. Guess I'll go buy a carrot - ha! Not
for holiday meals, but at other times, she would garnish the top of the
bowl with a small amount of grated white cheese. I would have happily
have made a meal of her calabicitas and a tortilla... or her pinto beans
and a tortilla. They always had a full complement of holiday dishes -
ham, turkey, dressing, potatoes, gravy, etc. - but she also added the NM
dishes.
