Thursday 16 December 2010

Waldorf Salad


Waldorf Salad was created by the maĆ®tre d’ of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City in the closing decades of the Nineteenth Century. First made with only apples, celery and mayonnaise, walnuts were added later but are now very much a traditional part of this easy salad.

"Waldorf Salad" was also the title of an episode of Fawlty Towers in which Basil Fawlty was unable to serve a guest his requested Waldorf Salad.
"I think we're just out of Waldorfs."
Basil says, then asks :
"What is a Waldorf anyway, a walnut that's gone off?".

So make sure you get lovely fresh New Zealand walnuts.

I like to mix half yogurt and half mayonnaise to make the dressing. Not so much for health reasons but rather to reduce the cloying-ness of a mayonnaise only dressing. Try half yogurt and half mayonnaise for coleslaw too. Also, I like to use white pepper as it looks nicer!

The ingredients are celery, apples, grapes or raisins and walnuts, with a yogurt-mayonnaise dressing, all served on lettuce. Apples are not strictly in season at the moment, but there are still nice ones to be found. A nice variation can be made with celeriac and pears, a Waldorf Remoulade if you will, and finely sliced fennel can be a nice addition when you have some.

Waldorf Salad
Serves 2
2 Tablespoons yogurt
2 Tablespoons mayonnaise
A squeeze of lemon
Salt
White pepper
1 Apple, chopped
½ Cup celery, finely sliced
¼ Cup raisins or ½ Cup grapes
½ Cup walnuts, chopped
Lettuce leaves

Mix the yogurt, mayonnaise, lemon and salt and pepper together for the dressing then stir through the salad ingredients. Serve the Waldorf Salad on top of some pretty lettuce leaves.