Garden work near Black River Falls, date unknown.
WHi Image ID 53645
THE URGE FOR CRISP GREENS COMES FROM OUR primal past. And in a climate like Wisconsin’s, the appearance of edible leaves and stalks heralded the arrival of spring and the promise of fresh foods after the preserves and canned ingredients of the long, hard winter.
Numerous salad fixings still grow wild, and many more are cultivated in home garden plots or purchased at farmers’ markets. These provide variety from frequently pallid and limp store-bought greens that are available year round. Local dandelions, watercress, and mushrooms are among the wild edibles that midwesterners can toss into the salad bowl.
As for the dressings, there’s no reason that they, too, can’t be “fresh.” Regional foodstuffs such as horseradish, honey, garlic, mustard, herbs, cream, and fruit-based vinegars might inspire a Wisconsin dressing-maker’s imagination. One ingredient to be careful about is raw eggs. Unlike in days gone by, when cooks knew the source of their food (indeed, they often raised or grew it themselves), there is concern today about the safety of certain foods. Eggs that are shipped from afar and come from industrialized chicken farms carry a risk of salmonella. Many consumers choose less-risky organic eggs purchased at a local farmers’ market instead, or forgo dishes that call for uncooked eggs.
Pick dandelion greens that are white or light-colored towards the root section; all-green ones may also be used, if they are not too old and tough. Wash greens and discard all but the leaves. If small, leave whole or tear into 2-inch lengths. Place in a salad bowl and season with salt. Add a dressing of vinegar and oil diluted to taste with water. Toss well. Garnish with hard-boiled egg slices.
Submitted by Mrs. Anne Shoberg, Milwaukee, who added that “we always knew spring had come when mother served a salad of dandelion greens and hard-boiled eggs for lunch.”
Watercress
3 slices bacon
3 tablespoons sugar
½ cup water
½ cup vinegar
Wash watercress and shake dry. Discard tough stem portions. Place in a bowl. Chop and fry bacon until crisp. Add sugar, water, and vinegar and bring to a boil. Pour over the watercress.
Submitted by Mrs. Charles Spitzbarth, Fennimore. This is the way her mother prepared the watercress the family gathered at their spring. “When we were kids,” Mrs. Spitzbarth wrote, “spring was always signaled when Father would say, ‘Let’s go after watercress.’ He would get two milk pails and with us kids following would take off for the spring. The water would be so clear and cold, and the watercress so green! It seemed to be the only thing green at the time. Coming back the trip always seemed longer because the pails were heavy and we would have to stop and rest. I still can’t resist the urge of fresh watercress in the spring, and my children delight in the walk to the spring with the warm sun of spring on our backs.”
2 cups water
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 pound fresh mushrooms
½ cup heavy cream
1 small onion, grated
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon sugar
Pinch white pepper
Lettuce
Place water and lemon juice in an enamel or stainless steel sauce pan; bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, wash mushrooms and cut into tiny slices. Add mushrooms to sauce pan, cover, and simmer 3 to 4 minutes. Drain in a colander, then gently pat dry with absorbent paper.
In a 2-quart bowl, combine cream, onion, salt, sugar, and pepper. Add mushrooms and toss lightly until coated. Serve on lettuce leaves. Serves 8.
Submitted by Mrs. Irving W. Zirbel, Elm Grove.
Fresh leaf lettuce
3 tablespoons vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
About ½ cup sweet or sour cream
Wash lettuce 3 or 4 times, leaf by leaf, to remove all sand and dirt. Drain well.
In a salad bowl, mix vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper. Add cream and stir. Just before serving, roll lettuce in the dressing so every leaf is covered.
Submitted by Edith (Mrs. Francis) McConnell, Wisconsin Rapids, who reported that she had this salad daily while growing up as long as the lettuce in the garden was tender. She suggested a hot bacon dressing as a variation.
3 or 4 medium celery roots (celeriac)
1 to 2 cups pared, quartered, and sliced firm apples
1 teaspoon salt
2 slices onion
½ to ¾ cup blanched, sliced almonds
Dressing (see below)
Wash, pare, and quarter celery roots. Simmer in water until tender. Cool and slice.
In a frying pan in a little water, simmer sliced apples, salt, and onion until cooked but still firm. Drain apples; discard onion. Cool.
Combine celery root, apples, and almonds. Toss with dressing. When serving, garnish top with additional almonds. This salad is excellent prepared a day or two ahead and refrigerated.
2 eggs, beaten well
½ cup vinegar (dilute with water if strong)
4 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 scant cup cream
Beat eggs in a round-bottomed stainless steel bowl. In a saucepan, bring vinegar, sugar, salt, and mustard to a boil. Slowly pour mixture into eggs, beating constantly with a rotary beater. On the stove over very low heat, continue beating until mixture is fluffy. Just before using, add cream.
Submitted by Carlyne M. (Mrs. Otto A.) Klein, Burlington, who suggested saving the cooking liquid from the celery root, cooling, and freezing in ice-cube trays to use as seasoning in stews and soups.
This version of celery root salad calls for potatoes instead of apples.
3 celery roots (celeriac)
2 large potatoes
1 large onion
5 large eggs, hard-boiled and cooled
4 stalks celery, sliced
4 stems parsley, chopped
½ cup vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 pint cream
Finely chopped parsley
Wash and pare celery root. Simmer until cooked but firm. Cook potatoes; pare. Chill celery root and potatoes overnight.
Finely chop celery root, potatoes, and onion. Remove yolks from 4 of the eggs (reserve the fifth egg); chop the 4 whites and combine with celery slices and parsley. Mash the 4 yolks fine; add vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper and blend well. Mix thoroughly with cream. Add to salad and toss. Refrigerate 24 hours, stirring occasionally. At serving time, garnish with remaining egg, sliced, and finely chopped parsley.
Submitted by Mrs. Gordon Austin, St. Francis. This dish was traditional at holidays; it is delicious, she reported, with any kind of meat and keeps well.
1 large bunch leaf lettuce or ½ head iceberg lettuce
8 slices bacon, diced
3 or 4 medium potatoes
½ teaspoon salt
3 hard boiled eggs, cut up fine
⅓ cup vinegar
½ cup water
½ teaspoon sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Shred lettuce, wash, and drain well. Fry bacon, drain on absorbent paper, and reserve fat. Peel, quarter, and boil potatoes in water with salt; drain. Mash potatoes lightly in a large mixing bowl; add bacon and eggs.
To bacon grease in fry pan, add vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and pepper and heat slowly. Carefully mix lettuce with potatoes and add dressing. Serve immediately to 3 or 4.
Submitted by Genevieve (Mrs. John E.) Butenlioff, Milwaukee, who noted that her grandmother’s salad is especially good in warm weather “because it is an easy-to-prepare one-dish meal.”
4 or 5 potatoes
2 onions
½ cup vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
Boil potatoes; drain and slice. Slice onions very finely and mix with potatoes. Combine vinegar, butter, sugar, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Beat eggs into sour cream, then beat in boiling vinegar mixture, a little at a time. Return to heat and simmer until thick. Pour over potatoes. Serve warm or cold.
Submitted by Mrs. Bernice Forrer, West Allis.
This lovely dish brought Sarah Brooks of Madison a grand prize in the 2001 Food for Thought Recipe Contest. Sponsored annually by Research, Energy, Action and Policy Food Group (REAP), the contest encourages entrants to celebrate regional, seasonal ingredients in healthful and delicious combinations. Brooks did just that when she featured a variety of heirloom tomatoes and fresh, edible flowers in an artfully arranged composition. She named the salad after the historic brick home in which she grew up in Princeton, Illinois.
Dressing
⅓ cup olive oil
3 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
1 teaspoon minced garlic, or more to taste
1 teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
Other Ingredients
Bibb lettuce and/or nasturtium leaves
4 large heirloom tomatoes in orange shades (Persimmon, Moonglow, etc.), sliced
8 or more Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, whole or halved
8 or more whole yellow pear tomatoes
Edible flower blossoms: tangerine or lemon gem marigolds, or nasturtiums, etc.
1 squash blossom and several nasturtium leaves (optional)
Mix dressing ingredients; set aside. Line a platter with lettuce or nasturtium leaves. Overlap tomato slices over the greens, starting at the outer edge and working inward until tomatoes cover the plate. Stay with bands of color or alternate colors. Place cherry and yellow pear tomatoes around the edges. Tuck edible flower blossoms between tomatoes at intervals. For added artistry, tuck one blossom into the squash blossom; place squash blossom securely in center of salad and secure nasturtium foliage around squash blossom. Drizzle with dressing just before serving. Makes 6 servings.
Recipe created by Sarah Brooks, Madison, for the Food for Thought Recipe Contest held annually by REAP (Research, Energy, Action, and Policy on) Food Group, a nonprofit organization that promotes an environmentally sustainable, economically just, and healthful food system in Dane County.
Mideast meets Midwest in a fusion salad that features once-exotic ingredients of New American cuisine—couscous and chick peas—with an ancient Great Lakes food (and Wisconsin’s number one fruit)—cranberries. The area’s first peoples no doubt dried the tiny, tart red fruits for winter storage, but as a widespread commercial product, dehydrated cranberries became popular in the late twentieth century. Along with dried cherries from Door County, which may be substituted for the cranberries in this dish, they now add sweet savor to cookies, cereals, salads, and sauces.
1 cup water
¾ cup couscous
1 can (15 ounces) garbanzo beans (chick peas), rinsed and drained
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup finely chopped celery
¼ cup chopped green onions
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup toasted whole almonds*
Bring 1 cup water to boil in small saucepan. Stir in couscous. Cover, remove from heat, and let stand 5 minutes. Uncover and fluff grains with a fork. Cool couscous 10 minutes.
Toss couscous, garbanzo beans, dried cranberries, celery, and green onions in large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk vinegar, mustard, and olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour over couscous and toss lightly. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if necessary. Just before serving, toss in the almonds. This salad can be served at room temperature or chilled. Makes 6 servings.
*To toast almonds, spread them on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees, tossing occasionally, until they’re lightly colored and fragrant, 5 to 10 minutes.
This recipe, created by Christine Klessig of Amherst Junction, was first published in Bountiful Wisconsin: 100 Favorite Recipes, by Terese Allen, published by Trails Books, 2000.
1½ pounds salt herring
1½ cups leftover roast meat, diced
2½ cups cold boiled potatoes, diced
2 cups cooked beets, diced
2 raw apples, diced
1 dill pickle, diced
5 tablespoons vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
½ cup heavy cream
Pinch white pepper
Juice from beets
Hard-boiled eggs
Soak herring in water 12 hours; drain, skin, bone, and dice. Combine with meat, potatoes, beets, apples, and pickle.
Combine vinegar, sugar, cream, pepper, and a little beet juice for color. Pour over salad and toss gently. Garnish with sliced hard-boiled eggs.
Submitted by Violet Fendry Schumacher, Franklin.
1¼ cups sugar
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1¼ cups vinegar
1¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons hot water
2 eggs, well beaten
¼ teaspoon paprika
Evaporated milk or cream
Mix sugar, flour, and salt. Dissolve mustard in a small amount of the vinegar; add with remaining vinegar slowly to dry ingredients. Add hot water, beaten eggs, and paprika. Stir to mix well. Cook in a double boiler over simmering water for 30 minutes, stirring constantly until thick and then occasionally during remainder of cooking period.
Makes about 1 quart. Keep in refrigerator and dilute with evaporated milk or cream to use.
Submitted by Carlyne M. (Mrs. Otto A.) Klein, Burlington, who noted that this is excellent for all fruit salads, especially Waldorf salad. This dressing, she added, was originally part of a sweetbread salad recipe that called for mixing 2 pounds cooked sweetbreads, 2 bunches celery, 2 small bottles capers, 1 small bottle olive meats, and 12 hard-boiled eggs.
¼ cup pineapple juice
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup lemon juice
½ cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
2 eggs
½ cup heavy cream
Put pineapple, orange, and lemon juices in the top of a double boiler. Combine sugar and flour and gradually add to juices. Beat eggs well and add to the juices set over simmering water. Stir until mixture coats a spoon. After dressing cools, whip cream and add.
Mrs. Byron Dolgner, Pardeeville, called this her favorite dressing for fruit salad.
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon tarragon vinegar
½ cup chopped chives or shallots
¼ cup chopped parsley
½ teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients, mix well, and refrigerate. Excellent on most salads and with meats, poultry, etc.
Variations: Add a mashed avocado or 4 anchovies mashed with 1 clove garlic.
Submitted by Mrs. Marion I. Kraemer, Merrimac.
5 egg yolks
⅓ cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup vinegar
6 tablespoons cream
Whipped or sour cream
Beat egg yolks slightly. Add sugar, flour, mustard, and salt. Mix in vinegar and cream, stirring to make a smooth mixture. Cook in a double boiler over simmering water until thick, stirring constantly. Keep refrigerated and dilute with whipped or sour cream when using.
Submitted by Vera (Mrs. Meredith) Richter, Janesville. “It is unexcelled as a dressing for a good old-fashioned potato salad,” she said.
There was a time when “salad” on a Wisconsin restaurant menu meant iceberg lettuce and bottled French dressing. This dressing is one that helped break that mold; it wowed customers of the groundbreaking but now defunct Ovens of Brittany restaurants in Madison during the 1980s. At the Ovens on Monroe Street, it was featured in a combination of romaine leaves, tart apples, walnuts, and blue cheese. A far cry from iceberg and bottled French, indeed.
½ cup fresh raspberries or unsweetened frozen raspberries, thawed
1 egg or two egg whites
1½ tablespoons honey
¼ cup raspberry vinegar or apple cider vinegar
¾ cup vegetable oil
Use a blender or food processor to puree raspberries, egg, and honey. Blend in the vinegar. Keep the machine running while you slowly add the oil in a thin stream (either type of machine should have an opening in the lid for this purpose). Dressing will be thickened and smooth. Makes about 1½ cups.
The recipe comes from The Ovens of Brittany Cookbook by Terese Allen, published by Amherst Press, 1991.