Salad -- French-style Waldorf Salad
Submitted by dvdlee on August 27, 2004 at 9:59 am

DESCRIPTION
Salad -- French-style Waldorf Salad

SUMMARY
Yield 0 File under Misc. Recipes & Requests

INSTRUCTIONS
Made this for Thanksgiving 2003 since we wanted a Waldorf, but didn't want a 'heavy' mayo-based traditional Waldorf Salad.

This salad is actually called "Salade Phano" and can be found in the book Simca's Cuisine by Simone Beck (out-of-print, Knopf, 1972 ISBN: 0-394-47449-X).

I have made some modifications (mainly in the quantity of mustard).

1 to 2 ribs celery
2 medium beets (roasted & peeled OR jarred*)
1 large Granny Smith apple
Endive (sliced into medium pieces)
3/4 cup walnuts (coarsly chopped)
1 Tablespoon chives (minced)

You can use jarred, pickled beets if needed - just make sure they are rinsed and fairly dry before using.

There should be basicly equal portions of beets, apple, nuts and endive. I used 2/3 or 3/4 the base amount of celery, but you could easily increase that so everything is of equal proportions.

Apple may be peeled or unpeeled, but certainly core it! LOL

You can use a tiny bit of lemon juice to prevent the apple from discoloring if preparing a short while before serving -- but use as little lemon juice as possible.

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard**
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar (or sherry vinegar)
8-9 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 Tablespoon flat-leaf parsley (minced)
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Black Pepper

Use the finest vinegar and olive oil you can find. Quality here WILL make a difference. I like Maldon French Red Wine Vinegar or a really good Sherry Vinegar.

Beat the mustard and vinegar together. Continue to whisk together as you slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixture to create a nice thick emulsified blend. Add parsley, salt and pepper.

Dip a leaf of lettuce in the dressing to correct flavoring (more oil, more vinegar, more salt, etc. etc.)

**Original quantity of mustard was 3 Tablespoons - too much for me! Adjust to your taste.

1 or 2 hard boiled eggs (peeled)
Food mill or ricer

Take the salad and combine and toss with the dressing. The salad should be thoroughly, but lightly coated with the dressing.

Place lettuce (Bib or Boston is great) on a salad plate.

Spoon dressed salad onto the lettuce.

Using the food mill or ricer (fine disk) mill the hard boiled eggs so they form a 'mimosa' or finely riced egg topping on each salad.
(The mimosa is not only attractive, but really gives a great boost to the flavors!)

Serve room temp.