These are very little understood in this country. Almost any vegetable cold can be made into a most appetising salad. By this means you have really delicious dishes, and there is no waste of cold vegetables or fish. I will give a few which, though known, are very seldom used, and I want to impress the fact in the minds of my readers that salads are healthy and economical, and generally liked by young and old, and the very little trouble they take in preparation is well repaid by the result. 1. Potato Salad.Mash up any cold potatoes you may have, mix them with any cold fish. Add a tablespoon of best olive oil, some caper vinegar, and a few chopped capers, one teaspoon of chopped onions, one bead of garlic chopped very small, the grated rind of a small lemon, the juice of half a lemon strained, salt and Nepaul pepper to taste; mix thoroughly. Serve it in a glass dish neatly piled up, smooth with a fork. Sprinkle over the whole some chopped hard-boiled egg, and arrange pretty West Indian pickles over it for decoration. 2. Plain Potato Salad.Cut up any cold potatoes in slices, mix with them a teaspoon of chopped onion, a teaspoon of chopped parsley, and pour over it equal quantities of best olive oil and vinegar that has been well mixed with a little pepper and salt. 3. Mixed Vegetable Salad.Cold carrots, turnips, potatoes, green peas, French beans, beet-root, celery, cauliflower, etc. Cut the carrots, turnips, potatoes, etc., with a nice fancy vegetable cutter; mix in the green peas, the French beans cut up in two or three pieces each, the cauliflower in neat little branches. Mix with them a teaspoon of chopped onion, a teaspoon of chopped parsley; mix equal quantities of vinegar and best olive oil, with pepper and salt to taste; toss all lightly up together. Ornament with lettuce and watercress in bunches. N.B.—German lentils, green peas, French beans, broad beans, all make a good salad by themselves with equal quantities of oil and vinegar, and pepper and salt. No cold vegetable is out of place. Every one more or less knows how to make salads from 4. Salad Sauce No. 1.Boil some eggs hard, two or three will be enough, take out the yolks, bruise them with the back of a spoon quite smooth, add a teaspoon of made mustard. Mix well, then add two tablespoons of olive oil, a little at a time, till well mixed, then two tablespoons of vinegar, stirring all the while. Lastly, a few drops of tarragon vinegar, a few drops of garlic vinegar, a salt spoon of castor sugar, and salt to taste. Some like a spoonful of anchovy sauce added; this is, of course, a matter of taste. 5. Sauce No. 2.Break in the yolks of three eggs into a basin, stir with a wooden spoon, with two tablespoons of olive oil, but a drop at a time only till the egg gets thick; then mix in two tablespoons of vinegar gradually, a few drops of tarragon, a few drops of garlic, a spoonful of made mustard, and, lastly, two tablespoons of cream, but this must be mixed with great care so that it does not curdle. Salt to taste. 6. Sauce No. 3.One potato passed through a sieve, the hard-boiled yolk of one egg rubbed smooth, two tablespoons of olive oil, two tablespoons of vinegar, a few drops of tarragon vinegar, a few drops of garlic vinegar, and a few drops of Chili vinegar; mix all well and smoothly. Add salt to taste. N.B.—All salads should have a dash of onion and garlic, but very judiciously mixed. The difference in the flavour of the salads is very great. Green salads may be mixed with lobsters, anchovies, sardines, and any kind of cold fish. |