Recipes

I’m Dreaming of a White Salad

Jackie Gordon Singing Chef - I’m Dreaming of a White Salad

As Billie Idol sings, “It’s a nice day for a white salad, Yeah!”

Want a salad that will make your guests GASP!!! when they see it?

My mom had lunch at A Di La, a wonderful restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn, the other day. When she got home, she was still licking her chops over the roasted vegetable ravioli with a browned butter and sage sauce and she casually said, “We also had a white salad.”

My eyebrow raised, “A white salad? Do tell.” When she told me what was in it, I decided to make one. I thought we’ve had a lot of snow this brutal winter and the last thing anybody wants to see is a salad that looks like a snowball, but I thought it would look really striking as well.

This is a pretty easy recipe, but it’s easiest made with a mandoline and a sharp knife, depending on which vegetables you choose.

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White Winter Salad

Soups & Salads, Gluten-Free, Vegetarian & Vegan, Parties & Potlucks
I called this a winter salad because I made it in the winter. It looks a little like a snow ball or, as a few people thought when they saw the photo, a white chocolate truffle rolled in coconut.
White Winter Salad

Ingredients

  • 8 cups assorted white vegetables (cauliflower is a must if you want to use it decorate that plate as I did)
  • Parmesan cheese, shaved
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1 cup creamy Parmesan dressing (recipe follows)

Directions

  1. Shred the vegetables, on a mandoline, or slice them thinly.
  2. Set aside thinly sliced cauliflower to fan around the plate. (You could use another vegetable, symmetrically cut and displayed, but cauliflower looks best.)
  3. Mix the vegetables with kosher salt, white pepper and Creamy Parmesan Dressing.
  4. Arrange salad by fanning the cauliflower in a circle and piling remaining salad in the middle of the plate.
  5. Garnish with Parmesan cheese.
Total time:
Yield: 4 servings

Notes

I used white vegetables (parsnips, fennel, cauliflower, Jerusalem artichoke and jicama), but you could also use other fruits and veggies like white radishes, endive, kohlrabi, pears, Vidalia onions, cabbage, apples, celeriac, white asparagus, cooked potatoes, daikon radish, white mushrooms, etc.

The white salad stands out beautifully on a dark platter. How gorgeous would it look against thinly sliced red, yellow and purple roasted beets?

Creamy Parmesan Dressing

Soups & Salads, Gluten-Free
Anything! That’s what I’d recommend putting this dressing on. I thought about drinking it. It can go on any savory salad, as dip for fish fingers or on some thinly sliced rare beef. It would be wonderful drizzled over summer tomatoes. Just make it.

Ingredients

  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan, grated
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
  • 1/4 cup water

Directions

  1. Puree the garlic, salt and lemon juice in a food chopper or blender.
  2. Add remaining ingredients and process or blend until smooth.
Total time:
Yield: 1 generous cup, but it will not be enough