Classic Irish Salad Food

IRISH SALAD

Steps:

• Wash and dry the lettuce leaves.
• Clean the tomato and cut into wedges or quarters.
• Quarter the hard boiled eggs.
• Peel a 3 inch section of an English cucumber and slice.
• Roll the slices of deli meat.
• Place the lettuce leaves on a dinner plate.
• Add each ingredient on top of the lettuce leaves, arranging in a circle around the plate.
• Do not toss the ingredients before serving.

IRISH PUB SALAD

Steps:

• Fill a small saucepan half full with water and stir in 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to help the eggs not to crack as they cook. Cover and bring to a boil, then gently lower the 3 eggs into the boiling water with a spoon. Lower the heat to a simmer and place the lid on askew. Cook for 9 minutes, then immediately drain and place the eggs in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process and to speed up the cooling. Once cool, peel the eggs and rinse off any shell fragments, then blot each egg dry with a paper towel. Halve the eggs lengthwise and sprinkle with black pepper.
• Tear off 8 pieces of Boston lettuce. Rinse and blot dry with paper towel. Arrange most of the leaves around the edge of the platter and put one or two in the middle to make a pretty base for the other salad ingredients.
• Get all the salad ingredients ready. Cut a quarter of a sweet onion, then slice it to get 12 curved slices. Mellow the onion by soaking it in ice water, vinegar, milk or sprinkle it with salt. Wait 15 minutes then rinse. Blot dry the baby beets so the red juice doesn't bleed. Cut a cucumber in half. Score the outside of a cucumber with the tongs of a fork then thinly slice it. Rinse and halve the grape tomatoes lengthwise. Slice the Irish Dubliner cheddar cheese 1/8 inch thick.
• Composing the salad is the fun part. Arrange the salad ingredients in a way that looks pleasing to you on a large platter or on individual plates. You might want to have two sections for most of the ingredients and one section for the cheese, sweet onion, and beets.
• Whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar, tarragon, and Dijon mustard in a medium bowl. Sprinkle in the salt and black pepper, then add a pinch of sugar. Gradually add the water to get it the right pouring consistency. Whisk until smooth, then taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.
• Just before serving, drizzle the homemade salad dressing on the salad. Serve with Irish soda bread, boxty bread, or Irish brown bread. Use it as a side dish with an Irish chip butty sandwich or with a steaming bowl of Dublin coddle or smoky cheese, potato, and ham soup.

IRISH PUB SALAD

Steps:

• For the dressing: Add the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, dried chives, parsley, garlic, shallot, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to a blender. Blend on high until smooth. Transfer the dressing to a serving bowl and set aside.
• For the salad: Add the butter lettuce to a large serving bowl. Drain 1 cup of the Pickled Beets and add them to the bowl with the lettuce. Top with the cherry tomatoes, Cheddar, celery, cucumbers and eggs.
• Serve the dressing on the side or add it directly to the salad before serving.
• Add the vinegar, pickling spice, sugar, salt and 1/2 cup water to a small saucepan. Heat the mixture over medium-high heat until the sugar and salt are dissolved, about 4 minutes. Turn the heat off. Cut the beets into 1/2- to 1-inch cubes and add them to a quart-size airtight container along with the dill sprigs. Pour the hot pickling liquid over the beets and cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before using.

CLASSIC IRISH SALAD

Steps:

• Place the beets in a saucepan with water to cover and simmer for one hour or until tender. Remove from heat and allow to cool in the liquid. Peel and julienne.
• Break up the heads of bibb lettuce, leaving the leaves whole. Wash and dry. Cut the stems from the watercress; wash and dry the leaves.
• Make the dressing. Mix the creme fraiche, parsley, olive oil and vinegar together and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• To assemble, put whole leaves of lettuce around the outer edges of six individual plates. Place watercress in the middle of the plate and sprinkle the beets on top. Peel the quail eggs and cut them in half. Place the eggs on top and sprinkle with chervil. Drizzle dressing over and serve.

IRISH PUB SALAD

Steps:

• Combine mayonnaise, vinegar, tarragon and Dijon mustard in small bowl and whisk to blend. Whisk in enough water by teaspoonfuls to make dressing thin enough to pour. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper.
• Arrange lettuce on platter as base of salad. Place salad bar ingredients over lettuce in attractive pattern. Top with sliced hard-boiled eggs. Drizzle dressing over salad. Place cheese wedges at ends of platter and serve.

LONG LIVE THE IRISH GREEN SALAD!

Steps:

• Note: I used leftover roasted asparagus spears from the previous night's dinner. Roasted would be preferred over steaming (my personal opinion.).
• Whisk the salad dressing ingredients together and refrigerate. Best prepared 1 hour in advance of serving.
• Combine the salad ingredients in a bowl except for the bell pepper and raisins. Toss.
• Take a shamrock-shaped cookie cutter and cut out shapes from the green bell pepper. (You may need an extra bell pepper to do this step.) How to: first slice the bell pepper lengthwise from stem to bottom. Remove seeds and membrane. Cut out shapes.
• Divide the salad onto [4] salad plates. Garnish with the shamrock-shaped slices of bell pepper; add the raisins.

IRISH FLAG SALAD

Steps:

• Divide spinach among four plates; top with pears, oranges, cheese and pistachios., Whisk the dressing ingredients; drizzle over salads. Serve immediately.