Traditional Waldorf Salad is made with apples, walnuts, celery, grapes, and raisins all tossed in a mayonnaise dressing. It's a salad I associate with Fall and Thanksgiving. My version is served on bibb or butter lettuce and is delicious any time of year. Its pretty, it can be prepped in advance and its crunch and tartness is addictive. Often I will make this salad, and add some rotisserie chicken on top for dinner. It would be equally yummy as a first course, or a beautiful salad presented on a large platter for a group.
You can substitute dried cranberries for the sour cherries if you prefer. I like to buy chopped walnuts, because they are less expensive than whole walnuts, plus I do not have to chop them. My favorite apples are Pink Lady or Honeycrisp, organic of course!
My husband loves bibb lettuce, and so do I since it it so tender. You simply cut off the root ball and rinse the lettuce.
After you have washed the lettuce, place it on a couple of paper towels. I do this for two reasons. One, I want the lettuce to be dry in order for the dressing to adhere. Second, I like to prep lettuce in advance. This method as you see below, works great since you simply roll up the paper towel and place in the fridge till you are ready to use it.
Gently roll up the paper towel and place in the the fridge.
Squeeze your lemon and place the juice in a bowl. You will place your apple slices in the lemon juice as you slice them to keep them from turning brown. Plus it adds a nice tartness to the apples.
Stand the apple up and slice down the right and left side avoiding the core.
Then slice down the top and bottom smaller portions of the apple, again avoiding the core. Discard the core. Place all apple sections face down on the cutting board. You probable only need 1/2 to 3/4 of your apple, so go ahead and munch on the remains.
Slice the apple as thin possible. The peeling looks pretty and it will not bother you when your eating it since the apple is so thinly sliced.
Place the apple slices in the lemon juice and gently toss to coat.
Cut both ends off the celery. Slice the celery as thin as possible. Tear off the leaves of the stalk and break into small pieces to garnish the salad.
Slice your grapes in half.
All your ingredients are ready for you to create a beautiful salad.
My balsamic vinaigrette is the perfect dressing for this salad.
Enjoy!
MODERN WALDORF SALAD RECIPE
Serves: 2 people
Prep Time: 15 minutes
INGREDIENTS
- bibb lettuce, (also known as butter or Boston lettuce)
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 apple, sliced thinly
- 1 stalk of celery, sliced thinly
- 1/3 cup seedless grapes, halved
- 1/4 cup dried sour cherries (or dried cranberries)
- 1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)
PREPARATION
- Cut off the roots of the bibb lettuce and wash lettuce. Place on paper towels, gently roll up paper towels and place lettuce in fridge.
- Squeeze the lemon juice into a medium sized bowl.
- Stand your apple up, cut down the right and left side avoiding the core (see photos above). Then cut down the 2 remaining thinner sides. Place all the 4 cuts face down and thinly slice apples.
- Put the apples in the lemon juice and gently toss to coat to prevent them turning brown.
- Cut the 2 ends off your celery. Save the leaves and break into tiny pieces to garnish your salad. Thinly slice the celery.
- Slice your grapes in half.
- Gently tear your lettuce and place on your plates. Arrange all the other ingredients, ending with the celery leaves.
Note: This salad would be awesome with my Balsamic Vinaigrette, which is on my blog here.
Note: If you top my Modern Waldorf Salad with rotisserie chicken, you would have a delicious one plate meal.