Meaty Salads

We are entering the hot and breathless time of year most everywhere you travel these days. In gardens from the Southwest to the Northwest and eastward, orange and yellow marigolds bloom profusely. Their pungent, musky scent lingers in the air.

Here in the Northwest, roadsides in August are dotted with big red poppies standing tall in flaming glory—“blossoms of blue pollen and slowly unfolding silk.” Red-purple fireweed and blue-purple wild foxgloves border the roadsides in robust color as do the purple thistles that stand tall and proud in their prickly splendor. Fields are alive with vibrant green horsetails popping up all over. And the cattails stand tall and erect with fully formed tips so fat and velvety, and deep brown in color.

I’ve always had a pot of geraniums on my porch wherever I have lived, and even sometimes on the picnic table in front of my RV in a park some place. They always bring a touch of nostalgia to a summer day. I have always enjoyed the cheeriness of geraniums—and that “to believe in life is to believe there will always be someone to water the geraniums.”

In August the summer heat settles in and we often feel it is too hot to cook, but not to eat. So what do we do? Have a meat salad for supper. Summer is salad season and salads are cool, crunchy and refreshing, and a meat salad is the perfect dish for a summer meal. It can be prepared in the morning before hitting the road, so that the flavors of the ingredients will have time to meld and permeate the meat.

Meat for the salad may be cooked specifically for that recipe, purchased ready-cooked, or be left over from a previous meal, such as a barbecue the night before. These beef salads are a good example:

WARM BEEF SALAD
1 cup of sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup of celery, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup of green pepper, chopped
3 tablespoons of olive oil
4 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1/2 cup of red onion, sliced
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon of minced parsley
12/ teaspoon of minced basil
1/2 teaspoon of minced oregano
1 cup of roast beef
2/3 cup of garbanzo beans
2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese
Spinach leaves
Salt and pepper

Line plates with spinach leaves torn into bite-sized pieces. Combine mushrooms with celery, tomatoes and chopped green pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil with 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar; add sliced red onion and cook, covered, for 2 minutes. Remove onion and add to the mushroom mixture. To skillet add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, minced parsley, minced basil and minced oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Add roast beef cut into bite-sized strips and garbanzo beans; heat through. Toss beef mixture with vegetables. Divide among plates, putting on top of spinach; sprinkle crumbled blue cheese on top and serve immediately. Serves 3 or 4.

Here’s another very simple cold roast beef salad: Combine 1/2 cup of oil with 3 tablespoons of vinegar, 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, 1/2 minced garlic clove, a dash of red pepper sauce, a little oregano, and salt and pepper to taste; stir well and let stand at room temperature at least 2 hours. When ready to serve, remove garlic, shake, and mix with 2 cups of roast beef cut into slivers, 1/2 cup of sliced celery and 1/4 cup of chopped scallions. Serve on greens to 3-4.

Here’s an even easier beef salad: Combine 3 cups of cooked beef, cut in strips, with 3/4 cup of olive oil, 1/2 cup of red wine vinegar, 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder, salt and pepper to taste; cover and marinate several hours or overnight. Drain beef and arrange on crisp greens. Garnish as desired with scallions, green pepper rings, avocado slices and sliced tomatoes. Pass marinade as dressing. Recipe serves four.
There are all sorts of combinations for main-course salads. Mix drained canned white beans with cubes of leftover roast pork, chopped red bell pepper, minced garlic and a bit of sage; moisten with olive oil and red wine vinegar. Toss romaine lettuce with chopped red onion, chunks of smoked ham, Granny Smith apples, cheddar cheese, and poppy seed dressing. Arrange strips of boiled ham and Swiss cheese, a hard cooked egg and tomato wedges on a bed of greens with prepared pesto sauce, shredded, cooked turkey breast and diced pimientos.

Maybe it is leftover ham you have on hand. Here’s an easy ham and macaroni salad: Cook 8-oz. of elbow macaroni, rinse and drain well. Sprinkle 1 package of spaghetti sauce mix over the hot macaroni; stir to mix. Chill. Add 2 cups of diced celery and 2 cups of diced cooked ham; mix with mayonnaise, and serve.

Here’s a recipe for leftover lamb and rice: Combine 3 cups of cold cooked rice with 3 cups of diced cooked lamb, 1 cup of chopped celery, 1 cup of chopped green bell pepper, 1/2 cup of chopped scallions, 1 can of water chestnuts, sliced and drained, and salt and pepper to taste. Make the dressing by mixing 3/4 cup of mayonnaise with 1 tablespoon of prepared mustard, 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of lemon peel, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1/4 cup of minced parsley, and 1 2-oz. jar of pimientos, drained and chopped. Mix into the lamb and rice mixture. This will serve eight but can easily be cut in half.

Not just any salad will suffice as a summer meal—it must be filling and satisfying. It should capitalize on the joys of summer, and perhaps introduce new flavor combinations to whet lagging appetites on very hot evenings in August.

HINT OF THE MONTH: A very cold salad will not release the same subtlety of flavor as one less chilled, so allow refrigerated salads to warm up a bit before serving.

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Marian Platt's regional narrative cookbook of Washington’s Sequim Valley, From My Kitchen Window, can be ordered by sending cash, check or money order for $25 (includes tax and handling/mailing costs) to Marian Platt, 434 Chicken Coop Rd., Sequim, WA 98382. Phone (360) 683-4691