Irish Dubliner Salad Food

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 FLAG SALAD

Steps:

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

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.

DUBLINER® CHEESE DIP

Steps:

• Stir Cheddar cheese, yogurt, green onions, mayonnaise, horseradish, and black pepper together in a bowl; refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour.

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.