Salads

How to Make the Best Waldorf Salad

Food memories provide a vivid sense of fragrances and tastes as well as a clear reminder of the people that we shared them with. I was reminiscing about my Mom the other day. She had a very special gift that involved remembering every visitor’s favourite foods whenever they came over. For example, when Mom received a telephone call from my cousin that she was coming to see her, Mom would busy herself in the kitchen preparing a batch of her favourite coconut tarts. The aromas of the freshly baked tarts filled our home upon her arrival.

My daughters have wonderful food memories of when they visited their grandmother. Mom would always make their favourite – Waldorf Salad. They remember the diced sweet red apple and crunchy celery in a creamy dressing, combined with thinly sliced red grapes and fragrant walnuts that the girls helped crack open with what they considered fascinating tools.

Waldorf Salad has been a family favourite for generations ever since it was first invented by the maître d’ of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City in 1896. You will love the simplicity, flavours and textures of this refreshing salad. I am confident that this easy-to-make tasty and nutritious salad with accessible ingredients will become your family favourite too!

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How to Make the Ultimate Classic Coleslaw

By Denise Pare-Watson

Urb’n’Spice Ultimate Recipe Series

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I have such fond memories of this particular salad from my days as a chef trainee at a prestigious country club. My first months of employment began in Garde Manger – in the cold foods area of a busy kitchen where sandwiches, salads, fruit trays, salad dressing, desserts and so much more was prepared. Everything was made fresh from scratch on a daily basis. One of my jobs was making coleslaw (hand-cut) for lunch service as well as ensuring a fresh batch was made for the evening service. With any training came the mentorship of the Garde Manger supervisor whose job it was to acknowledge a job well done as well as critiquing work that needed refinement or improvement. It had been a particularly gruelling week, and when I came in the next day, I was met with a sombre greeting from my supervisor. He told me that there was a problem with my coleslaw. I was prepared for the worst and at the same time, devastated that I might not have met expectations in an environment that required precision. He just broke into a smile, “It was too good! We had to make more in the middle of service!” Since that day, I have described this salad as “The Ultimate Classic Coleslaw.”

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Mango, Avocado and Cucumber Salad with Lime Dressing

By Denise Pare-Watson

Mango, Avocado and Cucumber Salad is one of the most refreshing salads that I have ever tasted and one of the easiest to make. There is a perfect balance of textures and flavours enhanced with a zesty lime dressing. There are so many reasons to make this delicious salad again and again: pot-lucks, barbecues, block parties, and summer patio al fresco meals.

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Orange Glazed Roasted Salmon with Orange Fennel Salad

By Denise Pare-Watson

The Confident Kitchen Series

DOUBLE DUTY RECIPES

This post will focus on a double duty recipe called Orange Glazed Roasted Salmon with Orange Fennel Salad that is quick to prepare, flavourful and refreshing. Fennel and citrus pair very well with fish.The recipes feature oranges beautifully. As an additional bonus, these recipes are gluten free, grain free, dairy free and refined sugar-free.

Orange Glazed Roasted Salmon

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Classic Cobb Salad

By Denise Pare-Watson

You don’t know what you are missing if you have never had a Classic Cobb Salad – it is a classic salad with a great story behind it. The original salad was invented at the Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood by the owner – Mr. Cobb, of course.

The story reports that Mr. Cobb worked non-stop in the busy restaurant until midnight. He was starving! He frenziedly mixed together this amazing salad with the things that he pulled together from the salad bar and tossed it with the house vinaigrette and the rest, as they say, is history!

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Lemon Cucumber

By Denise Pare-Watson

In Urbnspice’s most recent “What is It Series?” post, readers were asked to identify this photo. The What is It Series is a fun activity where I post a random pic and ask readers what they think it might be. This was a tricky one and no one guessed what it actually is – it is Lemon Cucumber. Lemon Cucumbers are heirloom cucumbers.

The Inspiration for this recipe is a market find: Lemon Cucumber

Did you guess? Some of the responses were great: potato; pineapple; and even cake pops. The answer is LEMON CUCUMBER. It is also sometimes called, “apple cucumber.” See the photo below to get a complete view:

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DOUBLE DUTY RECIPES

By Denise Pare-Watson

Roasted Potato Salad with Crispy Bacon and Chives

Double Duty Recipes Series

It is a busy time of year and no one really wants to spend time in the kitchen. Social schedules are full with block party events, casual get-togethers and gatherings of every kind. Then, there is always the dilemma of what do I bring? What better time of year to consider a recipe that can be used for two events – “Double Duty Recipes” such as dinner the first night with a grilled steak or chicken breast, then planned leftovers for salad the next day? The recipe that follows for Roasted Potato Salad with Crispy Bacon and Chives is a re-creation of the Lemon Potato recipe featured in this post – a favourite of my lemon-loving daughter. This is one of UrbnSpice’s Double Duty Recipes that you will enjoy making again and again.

Double Duty Recipes: Roasted Potato, Crispy Bacon & Chive Salad

You may want to consider doubling this recipe. The Lemon Potatoes are delicious and addictive and you will probably find that you don’t have enough left over for the double duty recipe. This happens often!…

Summer Salads

By Denise Pare-Watson

The Confident Kitchen series

Do you have a favourite ‘go-to’ summer salad? An old stand-by that the neighbourhood pot-luck or picnic would not be the same without? Our family has several favourite Summer Salads.

Broccoli Cheddar Bacon Salad

Part of the attraction of making summer salads (besides using fresh seasonal ingredients) is that many of these salads are great make-ahead dishes. The components can be prepared ahead of time and tossed with the dressing and garnishes just before serving, such as Caesar Salad, Cobb Salad, or Broccoli Cheddar Bacon Salad.

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