Composed Salads

as opposed to decomposed? :}
a red salad: red peppers, red onions, red tomatoes, red olive bits: sprinkle with olive oil and a wee bit of tarragon.
Oh, add crumbled bacon bits too :}~~

I thought that read "composted salads."

What is a composed salad anyway?

Oh! I thought it was one that wasn't distraught...

Seriously, though... I like any kind of meat-based salad (ham salad, chicken salad, especially tuna salad) on a fresh, preferably home-grown, tomato that's been cut, top-to-bottom, and opened up like a flower. Arrange salad in the center, place on top of pretty lettuce leaves and voila! Composed Salad.

But that picture looks to me like the ingredients ARE mixed together. Or am I missing the point?

CatSlave said:

A salad with the ingredients arranged in a bowl or on a platter and not all mixed together before serving like a tossed green salad would be.

An example would be a Salad Nicoise:

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I burned a steak last night and the entire house smelled like smoke. Maybe I should try salads. Teaching myself to cook is harder than writing for a living!

I like putting stuff on endive leaves. Little leaf boats filled with mixtures like blue cheese and walnuts, or chicken, olives, and creamcheese.

Shadow_Ferret said:

But that picture looks to me like the ingredients ARE mixed together. Or am I missing the point?

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They are placed on top of the greens, Ed, not mixed in. The fork/spoon tossing ustensils have yet to be employed.

I must be too "green." (Or just tired.) I thought this said "Composted Salad."

I make a 'compost' cole slaw - stuff like cabbage hearts, celery leaves and other edible castoffs chopped to ribbons and mixed in with mayo and maybe some leftover sauces. Yummy with a hot sandwich, and maybe home cut steak frites.
I'll miss being single one day.

Three of my favorites.


Arrange slices of tomato on a platter. Sprinkle liberally with thinly sliced green onion, finely minced garlic, and chopped fresh parsley. Drizzle with red wine or balsamic vinaigrette dressing, preferably homemade. Cover with plastic wrap and allow salad to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving.

(To save room in the refrigerator, make this salad in a Tupperware container and then arrange it on a platter before serving.)



Skin and slice six (6) naval oranges and place in a Tupperware container. Thinly slice a medium sized red onion and add to container. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Whisk together 1/2 C olive oil, 1/2 C unseasoned rice vinegar, 1 C red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 3 drops sesame oil. Pour over oranges/onions and place lid on container. Gently shake container to coat. Chill for at least two hours.

Before serving, shake container, and then drain dressing into a bowl. Make a bed of Bib/Boston lettuce on a platter. Drizzle with some of the reserved dressing. Arrange oranges and red onions on top of lettuce and drizzle with some of the reserved dressing.




Make a bed on a platter using Bib/Boston lettuce. Alternate slices of avocado, red onion, and grapefruit on top of lettuce.

Whisk a scant 1/4 cup of grapefruit juice (that you have saved from skinning and slicing grapefruits) into 1 cup of bottled Creamy Italian dressing. Drizzle over salad.

Ol' Fashioned Girl said:

Seriously, though... I like any kind of meat-based salad (ham salad, chicken salad, especially tuna salad) on a fresh, preferably home-grown, tomato that's been cut, top-to-bottom, and opened up like a flower. Arrange salad in the center, place on top of pretty lettuce leaves and voila! Composed Salad.

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A nice variation is serve the salad in a green pepper that's been seeded and cut in half on the axis.

One I like to make is spinach, turkey, mozzarella cheese, and ranch dressing. The salad bar in the cafeteria at work never has all of these ingredients at the same time, though.

Go to the grocery store. Buy the 3-lb. tub of Mrs. Gerry's potato salad. Eat it right from the tub during Mythbusters and/or Good Eats.

I like making my aunt's Layered Garden Salad:

Place about half a shredded iceberg lettuce in the bottom of a large glass bowl. Cover with 2 cups of frozen peas (thawed). Layer 1 cup of sliced mushrooms mixed with 2 chopped hard boiled eggs, and then 1 cup of grated cheese.

Dressing: Combine 1 cup of mayonnaise, 2 tbs sour cream, 2 tsp French mustard, 6 chopped shallots and 1 tsp lemon juice. Pour this over other ingredients as another layer.

Cover and refrigerate overnight if possible, or at least several hours.

Before serving, add an arranged layer of 1 large tomato (wedged), 4 rashes of chopped bacon (cooked) and 2 tbs chopped parsley.

Make sure everyone digs deep!


And my easy peasy mixed salad: equal amounts of grated cheese and carrot.

Damn Jo's bug! You'd think by now I would know it's in her signature line. But, no... I smack my screen every time.

Here's another salad (we eat tons of salad in our house, especially fruited ones) that I really like because I adore Gorgonzola cheese.


Make a bed of mixed field greens on a platter. Top with a combination of Mandarin orange segments and Bosc pear pieces (roughly the size of the orange segments), and then sprinkle liberally with candied walnut pieces * and small chunks of Gorgonzola cheese. Drizzle the salad with Ken's Lite Bluecheese Dressing diluted with a small amount of the Mandarin orange juice. (Or any other good brand of bluecheese dressing that isn't overly cheesy.)

*Candied walnuts: Heat oven to 350F. Place walnut pieces in a small bowl and sprinkle liberally with sugar and a small amount of salt. Toss to coat. Arrange walnut pieces on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven, shaking pan periodically to avoid burning, until pieces are roasted and fragrant. (Approximately 5-7 minutes.) Cool on waxed paper.

TIP: To stop the pear sections from browning, empty the can of Mandarin orange segments, including the juice, into a plastic container. Add the pear segments/pieces, seal with the lid, and then shake gently to make sure the pears are coated. Prior to serving, drain off the juice reserving a small amount to thin down the dressing.

soleary said:

I burned a steak last night and the entire house smelled like smoke. Maybe I should try salads. Teaching myself to cook is harder than writing for a living!

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When you're cooking large slabs of meat like a steak, cook on a relatively low heat and turn often, this will keep it from over browning. Don't add in the sauces unless you marinated it, until shortly before the end or the sauces can burn and taste just as nasty. The low heat will also help tenderize it.

Anyway, back to the scheduled topic. (I thought it said composted too...)

I like a variety of lettiuces, endive, romain, and such. I like a mix of spicey lettuice and non-spicey mixed together so I usually buy the mediterainian and the field greens and mix them together.

I usually eat salad as a meal, so take it as such. One boiled egg diced, meat of some kind, be it turky, chicken, or ham. If I am wanted the extra fat cooked bacon, crumbled. A little bit of shredded mozerrela, and a few good shakes of Salad Toppers. That stuff is great, it has herbs and crunchies that make croutons look sad.

Then the only dressing I've ever liked (I don't know why) is ranch. I keep it on the side and fork dip.