NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota
State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
March 19, 1998
Many people vote with their eyes when it comes to food. I don't care how good something smells, if it looks like pond scum most people wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot fork. Why do you think fancy restaurants can charge so much for meals? A lot of it has to do with presentation. Make something look pretty and people are more willing to pay a pretty price.
So what do you do when you've made something that tastes good, maybe even wonderful, but some may question its aesthetics? My theory is this: try it on a friend after you've tested it on your own family, and then let the world's best salesperson, word of mouth, do the rest.
With that said, what's your reaction to a vegetable salad that's pink? No, it doesn't contain red gelatin. Curious? Intrigued enough to risk your reputation as a cook? What's the reward, you ask? Your chance to make culinary history—if you dare.
Take this pink vegetable salad to the next potluck dinner you attend, and I'm guessing that one of two things will happen. Either you'll be held in high esteem by in-the-know cooks, or you'll never be asked to serve at a church supper again.
If you've done your homework—that is, served this salad to a few people whose opinions on food matter, and they've given you two thumbs up—then you can enter the get-together carrying your creation with confidence. You might even want to bring your salad in a see-through container. All the local cooks will most likely be building a shrine in your honor within the week, or at least asking you for your recipe.
Here is my adaptation of a Russian salad that appears in "Moosewood Restaurant Cooks for a Crowd: Recipes with a Vegetarian Emphasis for 24 or More." The main changes I made were substituting cauliflower and celery for carrots and peas and adding mustard to the dressing.
In the Pink Vegetable Salad
Yield: 10 servingsIngredients:
3 cups cooked white baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
2½ cups cauliflower florets that have been par-cooked in salted water for 5 minutes
3/4 cup each diced celery and yellow onion
2 cloves minced garlic
2/3 cup chopped dill pickles
salt and white pepper to taste
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
½ cup mayonnaise
1 cup cooked beets, cubed like potatoes
5 cups shredded lettuce (optional)
1 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)
5 chopped hard-boiled eggs (optional)Procedure:
In a large mixing bowl, combine all the vegetables, except beets; salt and pepper to taste. In a small bowl, whisk together lemon juice, mustard and mayonnaise; add to vegetables in bowl and blend. At this point, salad can be chilled overnight for the flavors to meld. Stir in beets just before serving. For individual servings, mound salad on a bed of shredded lettuce, if desired, and garnish with parsley and eggs.
What's Your Take on This, Julie?
We eat with our eyes before we take our first bite. Color makes food appealing. If it didn't, you wouldn't see various colorants listed on food ingredient labels. You probably guessed the vegetable responsible for the pink hue of this salad: the beet.
Beets get their color from pigments called betalains. If you've ever peeled, sliced and cooked beets, you'll notice that they become paler in color and the cooking water takes on a purple-red color as the betalains leach out.
Betalains are different from anthocyanins, the pigments that give color to red cabbage, apples, blueberries, red roses, purple pansies and a wide variety of plants. The color of anthocyanins depends on the acidity of the plant—the more acidic, the redder the color. Anthocyanins and another group of plant pigments, the carotenoids (which are orange, red or yellow), paint nature with a variety of beautiful colors in the fall.
Besides beautifying food and nature, plant pigments have been used throughout time as natural dyes for clothes, as natural makeup and as "paint" for early artists. Scientists are currently studying natural colorants as substitutes for synthetic dyes used in foods.
As with beauty, if the appeal is only skin deep the attraction won't last. Food has to be tasty and nutritious as well as attractive. Variety is key for a healthy diet, and this salad features many textures and flavors. It also helps us work toward the recommended 5 A Day, or five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, which is an excellent goal for everyone during March, National Nutrition Month.
A serving (1/10 of the recipe, or about 3/4 cup) provides about 150 calories and 9 grams of fat when made with regular mayonnaise. If you're watching your fat and calorie intake, try using a reduced-fat mayonnaise or salad dressing in place of the regular mayonnaise. A serving also provides about half the daily recommendation for vitamin C and about a fifth of the daily recommendation for folic acid, along with fiber and other vitamins and minerals.
If you really want to turn heads, serve the salad on a large platter lined with curly endive or another attractive lettuce. Garnish with sliced cooked eggs and add some small "beet roses" made by peeling a thin layer from cooked whole beets, wrapping the layers to form a flower and securing with a toothpick. Very impressive and very pink.
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Sources: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136
Julie Garden-Robinson (701) 231-7187
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