Okay, on to the nitty gritty. Today's Kitchen Tip is more of a "don't be as dumb as me" post. We were in charge of bringing salad to a work BBQ last night. I put together a lovely spinach, strawberry and candied pecan salad. The BBQ was just down the street from us, so I decided to dress the salad before we left. BAD MOVE.
No matter how close the party is or how soon you THINK you'll be eating your salad, don't dress until right before! I know, seems like a rookie move, but I honestly thought it would be okay for 15 minutes.
Here's what happened...by the time we got to the party, the salad was honestly and truly HALF the size. By the time we ate, it was more like creamed spinach than a salad. It was like I'd been simmering the spinach on the stove the whole time. Not so yummy. And totally embarrassing.
Thankfully the people at the BBQ didn't know I have a food blog...
5 comments:
i bet the "cooked" spinach salad was still delicious. that reminds me of a time i tried to save time and pre-cut some potato slices the night before, for easter dinner the next day. they leaked out all this juice and turned a nasty gray. good thing we were sharing dinner with the very understanding, never snotty jane and nate maynard.
that is also yet another mistake I've made in the kitchen...at easter as well! :) your potatoes still tasted fantastic, lindsay!
I remember seeing a tip somewhere about putting the dressing in the bottom of the salad bowl underneath the salad and then when you are ready to serve it, just toss it all together. I haven't tried it so I'm not sure if the bottom leaves would get wilty though..
I suppose the bottom might get wilty, but it seems like that would work pretty well. I think I just might try that next time! :)
We served a similar salad at a church dinner once and I didn't mix it till just before we served. It still was pitifully limp by the time we got finished serving just a dozen people. They were very kind but it was depressing! I use this bottom of the bowl trick when I take salad to work and it's just fine!
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