There are two salads, well – three, if you count Caesar that my husband and I really like.
One is a napa cabbage salad with hot bacon dressing, which is a family recipe that I’ve made so many times I don’t need to refer to it any longer. It is a staple in our holiday meals. Everyone loves it and has more than one helping. It’s probably not good for you, but it is so very tasty.
The other salad my husband and I have come to enjoy is a salad made with fennel and arugula. This is part of a Smitten Kitchen recipe for Mustard Milanese. The salad tops the fried chicken breast and adds a punch of brightness and tang.
The recipe for the Fennel and Arugala Salad can be found online, here. But, basically, it calls for arugula and fennel, shaved with a mandolin or cut thinly so the layers fall apart. There are two types of mustard – dijon and course ground – lemon and olive oil.
Napa Cabbage Salad
Since the Napa Cabbage Salad is a family recipe and I want my boys to have it, I wrote it up fairly recently. Here is what you need for a delicious salad.
Ingredients:
1 head Chinese (Napa) cabbage -washed but kept whole
1 small white onion
1-pound bacon (chopped and cooked slowly so it crisps reserving hot bacon grease)
White vinegar – 1/3 cup
Salt
Pepper
1 tsp. (more or less to taste) white table sugar
Steps:
- After washing the cabbage, pat dry. Slice cabbage across the end for ¼ inch slices starting from the loose end, working towards the stem end. Fill salad bowl.
- Chop onion and add to cabbage. Toss.
- Salt and Pepper top of cabbage/onion mixture generously.
- Sprinkle sugar over the top of the cabbage/onion mixture.
- Measure white vinegar and pour over ingredients in the bowl
- Chop ½ to ¾ pounds of the bacon by slicing widthwise from the end in ½-inch increments. Bacon will fry up to be small bite-sized pieces. Make sure your bacon has some fat to produce grease. Very lean cuts might not produce enough grease. The grease is used in place of a vegetable or olive oil in the dressing.
- Fry it until crisp. Keep warm, saving oil. (I just keep it in the pan with the burner turned off).
- Just before serving pour bacon and oil (still warm) over the cabbage and other ingredients. Toss well.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
The Apples in My Orchard 