Cooking Hints and Tips   

Salads

To add variety to salad dressing, make your favorite oil and vinegar dressing by the quart. At meal time, measure the amount you'll need and add blue cheese, onion, garlic, or a favorite herb. Always purchase the freshest salad ingredients possible. The best gauge of freshness when choosing greens is how they look and smell. Choose greens that are sparkling fresh with a good color and no wilted, dry or yellowing leaves. Greens are almost all water -- if they feel light, they are drying out. As a general rule, it is best to store greens and fresh vegetables unwashed and packed loosely in plastic bags in the refrigerator crisper drawer until shortly before use. Thoroughly rinse greens and vegetables in cold water just before using, then dry them on paper towels or in a salad dryer. Nothing spoils a salad faster than a bit of sand or a puddle of water in the bottom of the salad bowl. Select greens that are crisp and free of discoloration. Iceberg lettuce and cabbage should be firm and solid. Wash greens thoroughly in cool water. Pat dry with a clean towel or paper towel to remove water. Store in a covered container or plastic bag, and refrigerate at least 1 hr. before serving to crisp the greens. Place a piece of paper towel in the bottom of the container or bag to absorb excess moisture. For iceberg lettuce, cut out the core with a paring knife. Or, grasp the head in your hand and hit the core area against the countertop; lift out the core. Rinse the head under running water; drain core side down. Just before serving, tear - do not cut - the greens into bite-size pieces. Cutting greens with a knife will turn the edges brown with time. Allow greens to stand at room temperature no longer than 15 minutes before serving. Toss greens with the dressing and serve immediately or place greens in a salad bowl and pass the dressing at the table. Adding too much dressing will make a salad soggy. Pasta, rice and vegetable salads should chill for a few hours to allow flavors to blend. Pasta Salad Tips 1) Always choose high-quality pasta in sturdy shapes like penne, rotini or ziti, and cook it al dente in plenty of salted, rapidly boiling water. 2) Choose two or three complimentary main ingredients. Choose one fresh herb. Go easy on the garlic and the vinegar. If you add onion, add it just before serving or choose a low-acid type such as shallots. 3) Cut your vegetables or other ingredients to match your pasta shape. A small dice works well for all pasta salads, but long, thin shapes that wrap around twisted pasta, such as fusilli work good too. Balance textures in a salad -- crunchy with soft, cooked with raw, etc. If you are going to add dressing, just use enough to coat the salad lightly. A heavy coating will dull the flavors. Try varying the ingredients in your dressings - use balsamic vinegar, herb or fruit vinegars, or rice vinegar for an Asian touch. Chilled salads will unmold neatly and easily if you mist vegetable shortening spray (PAM or something similar) on salad mold before pouring in gelatin mixture. Keep salad dressings in the coldest part of the fridge to prevent separating. To cut down on fat and calories, use salsa as a salad dressing. Salsas made form fresh vegetables are naturally fat free. Get a head start on main-dish salads by storing cans of fruits, vegetables, and meats in your refrigerator. That way they're already chilled when you're ready to use them. It is unwise to add cut-up tomatoes to a tossed salad; their juices will thin the dressing. Prepare them separately and use them for garnishing the salad bowl. To crisp and chill salad greens or coleslaw quickly, place them in a metal bowl and put them in the freezer for a few minutes. Light-colored sesame oil has a mild flavor that's nice for salads and sauteing. Dark sesame oil has a robust flavor and aroma and should be used for flavoring. Add 2 tsp. or so of cracked black pepper to any Ranch dressing. Use fresh lemon juice, added to olive oil or Canola oil. Add your favorite fresh herb, chopped, such as fresh dill or parsley. You can add a dash of garlic salt or even some crushed garlic. Use a few spoonfuls of low fat sour cream. period. nothing else. Tastes decadent. Use curry powder or dry mustard powder to add zip. Fresh herbs make a real difference, but unfortunately, dressing made with them does not keep well. Always store dressings in the refrigerator in tightly covered containers. Try adding crumbled Bleu cheese, Roquefort, or even Gorgonzola to a French or Russian dressing. Also good in some vinaigrettes... Fruit Salad Tips... Use halved and hollowed-out melons or oranges as a cup to fill with fruit salad. Watermelons work well as a serving dish for a large amount of fruit salad. Combine the watermelon with melon-balled flesh from cantaloupe and honeydew melons. Add strawberries, grapes, oranges, pineapples and other fruits. Keep fruit from turning brown while preparing a fruit salad by squeezing lemon juice in a bowl of cool water before adding fruit. Never hull strawberries until they have been washed, or they will absorb too much water and become mushy. Put oranges in a 250-degree oven for 10 minutes before peeling to remove the white fibers from the fruit. If a pineapple isn't quite ripe but is needed for a fruit salad, remove the top and the skin, slice and place in a pot. Cover with water and add sugar to taste. Boil a few minutes, cool and refrigerate. The pineapple will now taste fresh and crunchy. Toss the fruit with a mixture of 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup fresh lime juice, 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice and two teaspoons grated lime peel. Let chill for 30 minutes, then transfer to the watermelon basket and serve. For another variation on the fruit salad, layer fruit in a gelatin mold one layer at a time. Swirl in some liquid gelatin and let set. Repeat until the mold is full. Another unique fruit salad is a yogurt and spiced-grape salad. Mix together 1/4 C low-fat vanilla yogurt, 1/8 t ground cinnamon and 1/8 t ground cardamom. Add one cup each seedless green grapes and seedless red grapes. Chill and serve. Arrange a fruit pyramid on a cake stand for an hors d'oeuvre platter at a party. For the center of the pyramid, cut the flesh off of a large pineapple so that only the core remains. Attach to the middle of the cake stand and arrange whole and cut fruit around it, forming a pyramid. Serve fruit salad as a light and refreshing desert after a heavy meal. Serve the fruit salad with a small scoop of sorbet. Garnish with a mint sprig.

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