Dean Torges
R.I.P. 11/4/2016
The quality of salads on the dinner table has deteriorated for a variety of reasons. Very few of us raise gardens. Most salads are comprised of grocery store iceburg lettuce, which serves as little more than a bland vehicle for the dressing, and the dressing quality itself has declined as we depend more and more on store-bought bottles of the stuff.
Q'ers make their own cole slaw, yes, but even the best cole slaw becomes tiresome after a while. We are just coming to the tail end of the season for fresh loose leaf lettuce. Nothing better than that, especially when you can go to your own garden and pick from a row sowed of mixed varieties.
Here follows a way to fix lettuce that goes great with bbq, without fuss and costly vinegars. Probably my favorite way to eat salad. You might have to make it a few times to get it just right for your taste, but I bet you will like it the first time anyway. Mary sez it's pretty much the same dressing that her Swiss family also used on potato salad.
Bear with me. It's another of Mary's family recipes, and she got that cross look on her face when I asked her to recount the process and give a measured list of the ingredients.
Salad for Two
Three to four strips of thick deli bacon, cut up in small bits and pan fried in iron skillet until very crisp. Set aside on paper towel. Reserve two TBS of drippings and remove from heat. Mix in 3 to 4 TBS of flour, return to heat and stir almost constantly until roux browns slightly and smells a little nutty. Fill 1/3rd of drinking glass with apple cider vinegar and remainder with water, dash of salt, two TBS of sugar. Mix and stir into roux. Simmer until nicely thickened, a little thicker than gravy. Reserve a little water to make adjustments to the consistency. Taste to adjust the balance of sweet and sour.
Pour it bubbling hot over washed, dried leaf lettuce that has been chopped a little finer than for a usual salad, included with it plenty of sweet onion, stirring and folding as you pour. Run a boiled egg or two through the cheese grater over the top, and garnish with bacon pieces.
The lettuce season is short, and it's starting to turn bitter with the heat now. We are picking a 5 gal. bucket full, roots and all, and storing in the basement fridge today. Stops it from going to seed and turning bitter. Will do a fall planting when the weather cools.
Try this recipe. Will make you wanna till your front yard and sow it to sweet onions and mixed loose-leaf lettuce. Works just as well over spinach, too, if you wanna tear up the sidewalk and plant some of that.
Q'ers make their own cole slaw, yes, but even the best cole slaw becomes tiresome after a while. We are just coming to the tail end of the season for fresh loose leaf lettuce. Nothing better than that, especially when you can go to your own garden and pick from a row sowed of mixed varieties.
Here follows a way to fix lettuce that goes great with bbq, without fuss and costly vinegars. Probably my favorite way to eat salad. You might have to make it a few times to get it just right for your taste, but I bet you will like it the first time anyway. Mary sez it's pretty much the same dressing that her Swiss family also used on potato salad.
Bear with me. It's another of Mary's family recipes, and she got that cross look on her face when I asked her to recount the process and give a measured list of the ingredients.
Salad for Two
Three to four strips of thick deli bacon, cut up in small bits and pan fried in iron skillet until very crisp. Set aside on paper towel. Reserve two TBS of drippings and remove from heat. Mix in 3 to 4 TBS of flour, return to heat and stir almost constantly until roux browns slightly and smells a little nutty. Fill 1/3rd of drinking glass with apple cider vinegar and remainder with water, dash of salt, two TBS of sugar. Mix and stir into roux. Simmer until nicely thickened, a little thicker than gravy. Reserve a little water to make adjustments to the consistency. Taste to adjust the balance of sweet and sour.
Pour it bubbling hot over washed, dried leaf lettuce that has been chopped a little finer than for a usual salad, included with it plenty of sweet onion, stirring and folding as you pour. Run a boiled egg or two through the cheese grater over the top, and garnish with bacon pieces.
The lettuce season is short, and it's starting to turn bitter with the heat now. We are picking a 5 gal. bucket full, roots and all, and storing in the basement fridge today. Stops it from going to seed and turning bitter. Will do a fall planting when the weather cools.
Try this recipe. Will make you wanna till your front yard and sow it to sweet onions and mixed loose-leaf lettuce. Works just as well over spinach, too, if you wanna tear up the sidewalk and plant some of that.
