Enjoyed a nice dinner with two newer friends,
such enjoyable conversation!
Thanking God!
The salad needs some help.
One I probably should have used Romaine lettuce.
Two, that onion needs to be calmed down, the bite was WAY too strong.
I consulted with a culinary friend who knows more and learned some tricks
to calm that onion down - here is one of them:
"Just peel and slice the red onion as called for in your recipe,
then submerge them in a bowl of cold or ice water. Let them sit for at least ten minutes,
stirring once or twice, before draining and using them in your recipe.
For added flavor, you can also soak the onions in lime juice, lemon juice, or vinegar. This method also works for other onions and bitter melon." (again this info is from here).
My friend also said you can salt the onion to lose it's pungency but it will also
make it softer (i.e. the crispness will be lost) but this is perfect for potato salad.
To do this she said that to prepare the onion this way you:
"You just cut or chop, salt, and let sit for 5-10 minutes,
or you can even massage the salt into them a bit with your hands before you let them sit."
My friend also said:
"With some vegetables like cucumbers and tomatoes,
that's actually a technique used to concentrate flavors:
cut them, then salt them, let them sit,
drain off the liquid that is drawn out, then add to the salad."
I found this about salting tomatoes to be helpful also.
My friend said you can also salt the entire salad but you have to serve it soon afterwards
as the salt will draw water out of the vegetables and make it soggy.
Also I think I should have added more dill...
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I hope to try some of these techniques soon to make a better salad...
***
If YOU have any suggestions to add to this, please let me know! :)
I feel like the salad I had this past week was so good, I just want to recreate it!
It was a really nice time, for which I thank God for!
It meant a lot to me to talk with our guests who know
a lot of the same people we do, all the way from Ottawa to various
parts of the States.
I was really grateful for this time.
I'm torn between feeling thankful for having some new knowledge about making tomatoes and onions even better, and feeling regretful that making a salad now feels like a complicated thing. lol
ReplyDeleteCurious, I'm going to try to remember to try these things next time I add a red onion to a salad, and a fresh tomato to anything.
So glad you enjoyed a good time with new friends. God is good. :)
Interesting salad tips! I never add red onion to mine (Father likes it so I make it just for him) but maybe soaking it in ice water would make it more palatable for me. I’ll have to try it. I look forward to hearing about the results of your salad experiments!
ReplyDeleteThe only onion I add to a salad is a Spring onion, much less strong. I do use herbs and salad leaves also with a base of Little Gem lettuce. We add apple slices, eggs, tomatoes, radishes. whatever comes to hand!
ReplyDeleteI've always had a problem digesting raw onions, red or white, soaked or salted or not. But I do put green onions in a salad and they seem not to be quite such a problem.
ReplyDeleteWhat helpful suggestions! I may make a salad this evening just to give them a try.
ReplyDeleteI've been eating a salad a day on most days. I do not eat onions so I haven't tried to make them better for a salad. I do know I like crunch and tend to go for romaine instead of the floppy lettuce leaves. I also do not like bitter lettuce. I have found that a thinly sliced radish makes a bit difference in taste!
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