GREEN SALAD

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 19953, 10 November 1934, Page 14

GREEN SALAD

HOW TO MAKE IT There are few more pleasing dishes than a well-made plain green salad, but few things are more difficult to get, unless you make it yourself. Yet scarcely anything could be easier. In the first place, no knife should ever approach within cutting distance of the crisp young lettuce you will use. Take off the outside leaves, but do not throw them away, as you should be able to use them for a soup or a puree. Put the whole of the inside into cold water and leave it there for 10 minutes—no longer. Shake as much water as you can out of the lettuce, holding it by the stump of the stalk. Tear the leaves off carefully, and put them into a clean, dry teacloth, and swing it round, so that as much moisture as possible comes out of the leaves. If you do not want to use it just at the moment, hang it up in a cool place to dry. Nothing is more horrid than a wet, flabby, lettuce leaf. Put the dried lettuce on a wire tray or colander. The best salad is made with the smaller leaves left intact. You are now ready to eat your salad and the leaves should be brought into the dining room in a generous salad bowl, so that it can be well mixed. Make your dressing at the table, or have it made at the sideboard a minute before you want it. If you are seasoning your lettuce with herbs (chopped parsley, chervil, chives and tarragon - ), which I strongly advise you to do, sprinkle the leaves

lightly with them now. Then pour over your dressing, which in this case should be plain vinaigrette (one part wine vinegar, two parts olive oil, salt and pepper), and turn the leaves over carefully in it with two wooden spoons or a bone salad spoon and fork, so that each leaf receives its proper share and glistens with the dressing as it is removed to your plate. It is a perfect dish by itself, but will grace any meat with which it may be served.