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Watercress and Sweet Pepper Salad
Remove large stalks from two large bunches very fresh watercress, wash well and thoroughly drain. Place in salad bowl with four Spanish sweet red peppers cut in small square pieces, season with four tablespoons dressing, mix well and serve.
A three-ingredient salad that lives or dies on the state of the cress and the drainage of the leaves. Everything else is assembly.
- Dry the cress properlyWatercress holds water in its hollow stems and any left behind will thin the dressing into a puddle at the bottom of the bowl. Wash, then spin or roll in a towel until the leaves squeak.
- Spanish sweet red peppersIn this period the term most likely points to pimientos, sold peeled and packed in jars or tins, sweet and soft rather than crisp. Jarred pimientos give the intended flavour; a fresh red bell pepper works but is sweeter and much crunchier.
- The dressingThe recipe assumes a dressing made up elsewhere in the book, presumably an oil-and-vinegar French dressing with salt and pepper; no proportions are given here. Four tablespoons for two bunches of cress is a light coating; add it at the last moment.
- Dress at the tableCress wilts within a few minutes of meeting vinegar. Combine, toss, and serve immediately rather than letting the bowl stand.
- QuantityBunch sizes vary, but two large bunches with the peppers will serve about four as a side salad.
- Stalk removalThe recipe asks only for the large stalks to go; the fine upper stems can stay.
Watercress was a cheap, ubiquitous green in the nineteenth century, grown in flowing water beds near cities and sold in bunches by street hawkers in both London and New York. The Spanish sweet pepper here reflects the period's enthusiasm for canned pimientos imported from Spain, which gave American cooks a reliable red note in salads and garnishes year-round. Filippini, who cooked at Delmonico's, includes short salads like this one as a light, sharp counterweight to the heavy roasts and sauces that fill much of the book.