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Nasturtium Salad
Cut the heart of a large bunch of celery very fine, and add to it 1 tablespoonful of minced parsley and 6 blades of chives. Mix with a French dressing, then stir in lightly the petals of 10 or 12 nasturtium blossoms. Put into a salad dish lined with crisp lettuce leaves, and garnish with nasturtium leaves and blossoms. This makes a very attractive salad if garnished elaborately with the leaves and blossoms.
A cold salad of celery heart and herbs dressed with vinaigrette, finished with nasturtium flowers. Nothing here has changed except the availability of the flowers.
- The flowers must be unsprayedNasturtium blossoms and leaves are edible and peppery, but only if grown without insecticide or systemic fungicide. Florist flowers are not food; use your own plants or flowers sold as culinary.
- French dressing means vinaigretteIn books of this period a French dressing is oil, vinegar, salt and pepper beaten together, roughly three parts oil to one of vinegar. It is not the sweet orange bottled dressing that later took the name.
- Blades of chivesA blade is one hollow stem. Six blades snipped fine is a small quantity, on the order of a teaspoon.
- Dress the celery, not the petalsToss the celery and herbs in the dressing first and fold the petals in at the very end, as the recipe directs. Dressed petals wilt quickly.
- Celery heartOnly the pale inner ribs and the small leaves. The tough outer stalks are stringy raw; save them for stock.
- Serve at onceThis is an assembly salad with no holding time. Chill the celery and the lettuce leaves separately, then build and bring it straight to the table.
- YieldThe heart of one large bunch of celery makes a small salad; perhaps about four servings as a side, depending on the size of the heart.