You can make soggy lettuce crisp and firm again by submerging it in a bowl of cold water and lemon juice in the refrigerator. After an hour, remove the lettuce from the refrigerator and dip it briefly in hot water, then in ice water to which you've added a dash of apple cidervinegar. Pat the lettuce dry with a paper towel. Another way to make lettuce (or celery) crisp is to place it in a pan of cold water to whichyou've added slices of raw potato. If you want to remove the core from a head of lettuce without causing the brown spots that form when you cut out the core with a knife, just smack the core end against the countertop. The core can be twisted right out and the leaves will stay unblemished.
If you put washed salad greens in the freezer about 10 minutes before preparing the salad they will be even crunchier. You can prepare a salad up to 6 hours ahead of time if you place the vinaigrette dressing in the bottom of the bowl and carefully place well dried salad greens on top. Cover and refrigerate, but don't toss until just before serving. To make scalloped edges on the cucumber rounds you use in salads, simply run fork tines over a peeled cucumber, then slice as usual.
For a more elegant presentation, remove the seeds from cucumbers before serving them in a salad or as a vegetable side dish. Cut the peeled or unpeeled cucumber in half lengthwise; remove the seeds with a melon bailer or a small spoon. For extra-crisp cucumber slices, soak them in salted ice water for 30 minutes. Just before serving drain and rinse well under cold running water. Pat dry and toss with dressing. Be sure that lettuce leaves are well dried before tossing or the salad dressing won't cling. When dressing a salad with vinegar and oil, remember to pour the vinegar first. Ifyou pour the oil first, the vinegar won't stick to the greens.
Don't pour vinaigrette dressing over salad greens until the moment before serving. Only shredded cabbage or tomatoes can stand a vinaigrette bath for up to an hour before serving without losing firmness. Don't toss sliced tomatoes into your salad. Their water content will dilute the salad dressing. Add them on top at the last minute, or use whole cherry tomatoes that aren't cut. A soggy salad never garners compliments for the chef. You can keep your salads crisp if you invert a saucer in the bottom of the bowl to allow any liquid to drain and collect under the saucer, away from the greens.
A sticky wooden bowl will look and feel smoother if it's washed and dried and then vigorously rubbed, inside and out, with waxed paper. For instantly cold, well-blended oil and vinegar salad dressing, pour the dressing into a screw- top jar, add an ice cube, and shake, Remove the ice cube before pouring the dressing. Here's another twist: Place your greens in a plastic bag add the dressing and shake the entire mixture. The greens will be evenly coated on all sides. If you wanted crumbled Roquefort or blue cheese for your salads, freeze it; then it will crumble easily when scraped with a paring knife. (This does not work well with other cheeses). For extra-creamy salad dressings, place dressing ingredients in a slow-running blender and slowly add the oil.
If salt is used as a salad seasoning, it's best to add it at the last minute. Ifyou add the salt ahead of time the lettuce will wilt. A crushed garlic clove rubbed on the inside of a salad bowl will heighten the taste of the salad ingredients. To keep fruit salad, potato salad, or shrimp as cold as possible for serving place it in a bowl and put that bowl in a larger one filled to the rim with crushed ice. Ifyou want to make the ice even colder, add coarse kitchen salt to it.
If you put washed salad greens in the freezer about 10 minutes before preparing the salad they will be even crunchier. You can prepare a salad up to 6 hours ahead of time if you place the vinaigrette dressing in the bottom of the bowl and carefully place well dried salad greens on top. Cover and refrigerate, but don't toss until just before serving. To make scalloped edges on the cucumber rounds you use in salads, simply run fork tines over a peeled cucumber, then slice as usual.
Don't pour vinaigrette dressing over salad greens until the moment before serving. Only shredded cabbage or tomatoes can stand a vinaigrette bath for up to an hour before serving without losing firmness. Don't toss sliced tomatoes into your salad. Their water content will dilute the salad dressing. Add them on top at the last minute, or use whole cherry tomatoes that aren't cut. A soggy salad never garners compliments for the chef. You can keep your salads crisp if you invert a saucer in the bottom of the bowl to allow any liquid to drain and collect under the saucer, away from the greens.
A sticky wooden bowl will look and feel smoother if it's washed and dried and then vigorously rubbed, inside and out, with waxed paper. For instantly cold, well-blended oil and vinegar salad dressing, pour the dressing into a screw- top jar, add an ice cube, and shake, Remove the ice cube before pouring the dressing. Here's another twist: Place your greens in a plastic bag add the dressing and shake the entire mixture. The greens will be evenly coated on all sides. If you wanted crumbled Roquefort or blue cheese for your salads, freeze it; then it will crumble easily when scraped with a paring knife. (This does not work well with other cheeses). For extra-creamy salad dressings, place dressing ingredients in a slow-running blender and slowly add the oil.
If salt is used as a salad seasoning, it's best to add it at the last minute. Ifyou add the salt ahead of time the lettuce will wilt. A crushed garlic clove rubbed on the inside of a salad bowl will heighten the taste of the salad ingredients. To keep fruit salad, potato salad, or shrimp as cold as possible for serving place it in a bowl and put that bowl in a larger one filled to the rim with crushed ice. Ifyou want to make the ice even colder, add coarse kitchen salt to it.
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