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New Year Salad
Core large, deep red apples. Slice them without paring in 1/2 inch slices, marinate them a few minutes in very slightly salted water to prevent discoloration. Drain and dry them between towels, then marinate in French dressing.
Remove seeds from green peppers, cut the peppers in very fine, thin rings. Alternate the apple and pepper rings on bed of lettuce. Garnish with pimiento stars; serve with French dressing passed at the table.
A composed salad of raw apple and pepper rings, arranged for color rather than dressed in a bowl. Everything hinges on the apple slices staying pale and crisp.
- The salt-water dipA few minutes in lightly salted water (a scant teaspoon of salt to a quart is about right for "very slightly salted") keeps the cut apple from browning. Modern cooks often use acidulated water instead — lemon juice in cold water works as well and leaves no saline edge — but the original method is sound. Keep the soak to the few minutes the recipe specifies; a long soak will begin to soften the slices.
- Drying mattersWet apple sheds dressing. Blot the slices thoroughly between towels before the French dressing goes on, or the vinaigrette will slide off and pool on the plate.
- "Marinate in French dressing"French dressing here means a plain oil-and-vinegar vinaigrette, roughly three parts oil to one part vinegar with salt and pepper — not the sweetened orange bottled product that took the name in mid-century America. Ten to fifteen minutes is enough.
- Apple choiceThe recipe wants deep red skin for contrast, since the fruit is left unpared. Red Delicious was among the showy red apples of the era, though today's fruit is mealy; use a firm red-skinned apple that holds its shape, such as Braeburn, Empire, or a well-colored Gala.
- Cutting the ringsCoring first and slicing crosswise at 1/2 inch gives you rings with a clean hole. A mandoline or a steady hand makes the pepper rings thin enough to curl; slice the pepper crosswise, not lengthwise, to get true rings.
- Pimiento starsPimiento is a sweet red pepper sold jarred and already roasted and peeled. Blot the pieces dry and cut them with a small aspic cutter, or with the tip of a paring knife.
- Assemble lateCut apple dulls within the hour even after the salt bath. Prepare the peppers, lettuce, and garnish ahead, slice the apple last, and plate just before it goes to the table.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield; as a rough guide, two large apples and two green peppers will build something like four to six individual salads. Pass extra dressing in a small pitcher as directed, since the arrangement cannot be tossed.