Waldorf Salad

Like I've mentioned before, John recently went through a big Good Eats phase where he watched a couple episodes a day. I'm not as completely in love with the show as he is, but I do enjoy how it inspires him to come up with dinner ideas. Last week, before we went to Fort Wayne, we had a couple of days to plan dinner for and we didn't want to have a lot of leftovers spoiling in the fridge while we were gone. John suggested this waldorf salad, and it seemed like the right amount of food to fill that gap.



















We ate ours with a big pile of spinach underneath. How could apples and mayonnaise be a bad thing??? Actually that combination didn't really grab me at first, but then I realized that Alton Brown's suggestions for additional ingredients are the same ones I would put in chicken salad: grapes/raisins, apples, walnuts, etc. The curry powder is really the ingredient that takes this from good to great.

Alton Brown's Waldorf Salad

Ingredients

• 2 Ginger Gold apples (Fuji will substitute)
• 1 Red Delicious Apple
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 cup prepared mayonnaise
• 1 pinch kosher salt
• Cracked black pepper
• 3/4 cup toasted walnuts, crushed
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/2 red onion, julienned
• 1 head romaine lettuce, heart only (we each had a big serving of spinach instead)

Directions

Cut apples in half and remove the core with a melon baller or spoon. Chop apples into medium-sized pieces, leaving skin on.

In a bowl, toss apples with the cider vinegar. Fold in mayonnaise thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Fold in walnuts, raisins, curry powder, celery, mint and red onion. Adjust seasoning. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to allow flavors to incorporate. To serve, arrange 2 leaves of romaine lettuce (or a small pile of spinach) per plate and spoon salad on top.