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Cardinal Salad
2 large beets 2 tablespoons vinegar 1/2 cup wax beans 1/2 cup peas 1/2 cup asparagus tips Mayonnaise made with vinegar from beets Lettuce Radishes for a garnish Boil beets until tender, slice, cover with vinegar and let stand until the following day. Drain off the vinegar and use it in making the mayonnaise. Arrange white wax beans, peas, asparagus tips and red mayonnaise in little rose-like nests of lettuce leaves, and garnish with red radishes.
A composed salad from the era when a plate was expected to look like a color plate. The whole point is the beet vinegar, which tints the mayonnaise cardinal red, so the overnight step is not optional.
- Start a day aheadThe beets need to sit in vinegar overnight for the liquid to take on enough color and beet flavor to matter. Two large beets sliced thin, barely covered with about 2 tablespoons of vinegar, will give you only a small amount of tinted liquid; use a narrow container so the slices are actually submerged.
- The red mayonnaiseThe recipe uses the drained beet vinegar as the acid in making the mayonnaise from the start. If instead you are tinting an already-made mayonnaise, add the vinegar a teaspoon at a time; added all at once it will thin the emulsion and can break it.
- Raw eggMayonnaise made from scratch here is uncooked and served cold. Use pasteurized eggs, or a good commercial mayonnaise thinned with the beet vinegar, if you are serving anyone elderly, pregnant or immune-compromised.
- Wax beansYellow wax beans are the same species as green beans, with the green pigment bred out; the recipe calls for 'white wax beans,' which suits a plate built on color contrast. They still turn up at farm markets in summer; if you cannot find them, the salad works with green beans and simply loses the intended pallor.
- Cook the vegetables separatelyBeans, peas and asparagus tips all want different times — roughly 4 to 5 minutes for beans, 2 for peas, 2 to 3 for thin asparagus tips. Boil each in salted water, then chill in ice water so the colors stay bright and the pieces stay distinct in the nest.
- The leftover beetsThe sliced beets themselves are not called for in the arrangement; only their vinegar is used. They are excellent as a pickle on their own, or fold a few into the nests if you want more red than the radishes provide.
- Lettuce nestsCupped leaves from the heart of a butter or Boston lettuce hold their shape best. Wash and dry them thoroughly and chill them flat between damp towels so they stay crisp enough to sit up on the plate.
- YieldThe quantities suggest roughly four small salad-course portions. Dress at the last moment; the tinted mayonnaise bleeds into the lettuce.