Saturday, January 3, 2015

Cosmo Salad

I honestly do not ever remember having a salad at Trader Vic's. Back in the day, a visit to this favorite restaurant was all about Suffering Bastards and the Pupu Platter. These days I find that I crave salads, so the first recipe I tried in my Trader Vic's cookbook was for the Cosmo Salad. The ingredients are few, the dressing simple, but combine the two and you have a crunchy and refreshing salad that is positively addictive. I did all of the prep work, including making the dressing, the night before, stored everything separately, then mixed it up just prior to serving. 
Not only is it a great, light, delicious salad, but served in bite-sized portions makes a healthy addition to the usual cocktail party offerings. Give this some thought when planning for the Super Bowl. A bit of light, vegetarian fare, would be a welcome addition to the dips, spreads, and saucy meatballs.

Cosmo Salad
 from Trader Vic’s Tiki Party

Makes 5 cups salad, or 24 servings

4 artichoke bottoms, cut into ¼” dice
8 ounces button mushrooms, cut into ¼” dice
6 stalks celery, cut into ¼” dice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

Cosmo Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 small shallot, minced
½ teaspoon medium sherry

24 lettuce leaf cups, for serving
12 cherry tomatoes, quartered, for garnish
Chopped chives for garnish

To prepare the salad, in a large bowl, combine artichokes, mushrooms, and celery.  Season with salt and pepper.

To make the dressing, in a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, shallot, and sherry until smooth.  Pour over the salad and toss gently.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.

To serve, spoon the salad into the lettuce cups.  Garnish each filled cup with two tomato quarters and sprinkle with chopped chives.  Serve immediately.

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5 comments:

  1. Bonjour,

    Un véritable régal pour les yeux et les papilles...
    Gros bisous ♡

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  2. I love all the ingredients in this salad, Pattie, and it makes a nice presentation with the tomato "flower" on the top!

    Do you think you could use canned artichoke hearts in it? I don't know that I could handle the real thing. I am not quite as bad as that lady on TV who does dump recipes, but I do try to cheat when I can. ;-)

    xo

    Sheila :-)

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  3. What a beautiful salad Pattie!

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  4. When I first saw the photo, I thought it was a chicken or turkey salad...wonder if I could fool my hubby into thinking it is! I am ready to cut 75% of meat from my diet...need to get healthier in my old age...and this looks like a good start.
    Happy New Year, Pattie.

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  5. Looks so good. I've pinned to give it a try. Thanks for sharing at AMAZE ME MONDAY.
    Blessings,
    Cindy

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Thank you so much for commenting, I love every one of them! I am, however, unable to respond to anonymous comments.