Tired of the same old lunch routine or searching for the perfect crowd-pleasing dish to bring to your next potluck?
This week we’re sharing deli-style salad recipes that are anything but boring — think crisp, creamy, tangy and deeply satisfying dishes that get even better with time. These recipes aren’t just tasty; they’re make-ahead winners designed to simplify your week or help you shine at your next potluck.
By the end of this episode, you’ll learn how to:
Shake up your bean game with a fresh, crunchy chickpea salad with an unexpected spice blend
Build a hearty Greek salad-meets-fattoush salad, elegant enough to serve at a dinner party or bring to a casual potluck
Whip up dishes that travel well, like a zippy roasted potato salad with avocado-lime dressing
Press play now to start cooking up cool, crunchy, and crowd-pleasing deli salads that deliver on both convenience and taste!
Links
Sonya’s herby potato salad (the dressing for this recipe is the same one she uses for her coleslaw) https://foodfriendspodcast.substack.com/p/sunday-salad-the-potato-salad-everyone?r=4hec5y
Ina Garten’s coleslaw salad (similar to what we discussed, but swap some of the mayo with yogurt!) https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/vegetable-coleslaw-recipe-1941654
Jalapeno, lime, coleslaw by Joshua Bousel from Serious Eats https://www.seriouseats.com/jalapeno-coleslaw-recipe
Whole foods copycat cabbage crunch sala https://www.food.com/recipe/whole-foods-cabbage-crunch-452816
Carmen Wilken deviled egg macaroni salad https://whatsmomcookin.com/deviled-egg-macaroni-salad-with-bacon/ (and her TikTok of the recipe) https://www.tiktok.com/@whatsmomcookin/video/7369004737607372074?_r=1&_t=ZP-8vLMHsAKXTL
Alison Roman’s pasta with peas and parmesan salad https://www.alisoneroman.com/recipes/pasta-salad-with-peas-and-parmesan
Everything bagel chickpea + white bean salad by Sarah Bond from Live, Eat, Learn https://www.liveeatlearn.com/everything-bagel-dense-bean-salad/
Erewhon white bean kale salad by Kale Junkie https://kalejunkie.com/copycat-erewhon-kale-white-bean-salad/
Hetty Lui McKinnon’s roasted potato salad with jalapeno avocado dressing for NYT Cooking (unlocked) https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1023181-roasted-potato-salad-with-jalapeno-avocado-dressing?unlocked_article_code=1.AU8.w7_d.IQT4_lQhXYd-&smid=share-url
Lidey Heuk’s Taverna salad for NYT Cooking (unlocked) https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025202-taverna-salad?unlocked_article_code=1.AU8.u7Gy.lSO6sgBEYAJP&smid=share-url
Moroccan carrot salad by Suzy Karadsheh https://www.themediterraneandish.com/moroccan-carrot-salad/
Check out our previous “deli salad” episode from season one! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/whats-your-favorite-deli-salad-cooking-classic-recipes/id1651167933?i=1000613225696
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[Music] Welcome to Food Friends, a podcast inspiring home cooks to try new dishes in the kitchen by sharing trusted recipes, tips, and friendship. Hi, I’m Sonia. And I’m Carrie. We met in Los Angeles over 15 years ago as personal chefs and haven’t stopped talking about food since. We’re so glad you’re [Music] here. Hi, Sonia. Hi, Carrie. Sonia, today we are talking about one of our favorite topics. Well, we’re both big salad people and we actually did a deli salad episode as one of our early episodes, which we’ll link in our show notes, cuz we covered a few of our favorite deli salads already. But the thing about deli salads as a topic is there’s so many different kinds that you can find in deli across America, around the world. And really what we’re talking about is make ahead salads. Salads that can be good for meal prep, that can work for a potluck, that can be great for hosting, which is why I love this category so much. It’s so versatile and I think everyone is looking for this. I looked up our last deli salad episode. It was number 26. Yeah. So way back at the beginning. But I think this is such a universal topic. And in our first episode, we talked about some of those classics like a chicken salad and an egg salad. But today, we’re really talking about a lot of different salads that some of which are new and really exciting and then some of which are really classic, too. Yeah. Let’s start with the classic. We’ve never talked about kleslaw. I know. How have we like not talked about kleslaw? Because it’s one of my favorite deli salads. I don’t I have a feeling you don’t like it. Well, what’s funny is I know this is one of your favorite deli salads and you’re excellent at klelaw and also I’m not a big kleslaw maker so I’m I’m thrilled for you to go first and then I’m just going to sort of add my little you know my idea too. Wait, Krie, can I ask are do you not like kleslaw or do you not make it often because it’s tedious to make or you just it’s like not your favorite go-to salad? I do love kleslaw. I think it’s a delicious salad and I always eat it when it’s available. It’s just honestly it’s not something I think of making. When I was a personal chef, you know, when people would ask me to make recipes, their ideas became my recipes. You know, I got into the mode of making those things. But kleslaw wasn’t something that people asked me to make and it wasn’t something I was like pitching to people. And so I just haven’t made a lot of klelaws. Honestly, it’s such an interesting thing. You’re right. Because maybe people don’t ask for it much. And maybe I don’t know why I make it so often. I love it especially in the warmer months. So it’s often in rotation in the summer and also we had it at my deli. It’s like one of those staples at any deli in a lot of restaurants and diners. I’m really kind of traditional in certain ways and not in others. So I do like a little hint of sweetness in my dressing but I don’t like it overly sugary sweet. You know, you need a little bit of sweetness though. I think you need a little sweeter. I think there’s two excellent ways to make it. I think when you shave your cabbage on a mandolin and you get it really papery thin, it makes for a really fun pleasing kleslaw. It gets soggy. Like I’m not trying to say it stays crisp, but it’s to me that texture is really great. Especially if you’re doing like a Reuben or a sandwich where you want kleslaw in it, right? I mean, I couldn’t love anything more. Yeah. But then I think there’s the other category that’s kind of like the fast food klelaw where you put your cabbage in a food processor and you blend it up into little bite-sized pieces. And then there’s of course just you shred it by hand with a knife. Yeah. I’m more either chopped finely in a food processor or shaved on a mandolin. Okay. Well, will you walk us through what your kleslaw looks like? Yeah. So, typically, like I said, put, you know, thinly sliced on a mandolin. I always add shredded carrot, shredded on a box grater. And you’re just using green cabbage? Just green cabbage. Sometimes I No, sometimes I do a mix of purple and green. I think green should be in there, but purple purple can be mixed in. Sometimes I finally dice an apple even for sweetness instead of just, you know, the sugar or something. And that’s pretty much it. Sometimes I add some fresh herbs if I have them around because I love parsley or cilantro or something, but I think that’s like not my go-to version. My dressing is almost always the same. It’s made of mayonnaise, yogurt, plain yogurt to kind of lighten it up, not sour cream. I really like the lightness of yogurt. Whole grain Dijon mustard. It has to be whole grain Dijon. No other for me cuz it has like a mapley nutty flavor to it that’s a little less sharp than regular Dijon. Then I use apple cider vine v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v vinegar for that little bit of fruiness and I use a hint like a spoonful of sugar or a spoonful of honey or even maple syrup and that’s my dressing and it kind of works every time. I do have to say though, there’s one other quick shout out to a kind of klelaw that has no mayonnaise that I’m obsessed with, which is the cabbage crunch salad from Whole Foods, but you can make it at home that’s just like shredded cabbage. It has some like toasted sesame seeds and the dressing is just honey oil, lemon juice or sorry, apple cider vinegar, honey oil. It’s very, very, very simple. Simple, simple, simple. I’ve never salad. That sounds delicious. Yeah, it’s just a light and refreshing. They make it kind of sweet at Whole Foods. At home, I make it less sweet, but just cabbage shredded tossed in something vinegary with a touch of sweetness and maybe some crunch of some seeds is such a nice salad. Yeah, listen, I I completely agree. There’s a version that I kind of feel called to. I don’t know if I lived in the Midwest if I would feel like interested in these flavors as much, but I love that we have so many limes in California and I love scallion. I love cilantro. And so there’s a version that, you know, that’s kind of out there that’s like the the dressing is mayo and sour cream. You thin it with some lime juice and some lime zest. It gives us like more punch. And then a little bit of grated garlic. You can add as much as you want. And some chili like jalapeno or French. I love a kleslaw with very thinly sliced jalapeno. Yeah. And there’s something about that cilantro, scallion, lime combination. the flavors are lighter. You definitely can add like a little bit of honey in there to temper some of that out, but I I love that version. And I I really like the vegetital flavor of a jalapeno. I would also add green pepper. When I make a standard sort of sweet kleslaw, I always add sweet bell peppers, like red pepper. I don’t I don’t love the carrot in it. I I mean, I’ll add it, but I’ll also add like sweet bell peppers, which I really like. Oh, interesting. See, everyone’s got their choice. I’d love to hear if our listeners have their own hot takes on klelaw. So, I definitely want to hear what people have to say about their versions. What else are you thinking about in the deli salads category? Well, Sonia, I feel like we can’t have an episode without a macaroni salad. I’m wondering, do you ever make macaroni salad? I don’t make it that often, but I lived in Hawaii for a couple years, as you know, so macaroni salad is a very nostalgic food to me. This one that you’re referencing is like a very standard macaroni salad. I definitely grew up eating that in the Midwest. When I was kind of looking for recipes, I found one that I would call very extra. The recipe is called deileled egg macaroni salad, and I saw it on Tik Tok. It is so extra because it has nine eggs, a pound of bacon, and a half a pound of macaroni. So, it’s this like, and just for a little bit of context, a half a pound of macaroni is like a half a box. So, it’s not like I was just say it’s nine eggs to half a box of pasta. Yes. It’s really It’s like it’s very creamy. And what’s kind of amazing about it is that you you put it together like you you cook the eggs. The recipe developer makes them in the Instant Pot. And so, she has this method where they peel really easily. I don’t have an Instant Pot. I know you do. So, maybe you do this, too. But you peel them really easy. You put six of the eggs into the salad. But you separate the yolks and you put that into the dressing. And then you kind of cut up the whites so they’re chunky with the pasta. And then I think it’s nine pieces of bacon. And then you put some of the bacon also on the top. And it’s like mayo, dijon mustard, pickle juice, granulated garlic, granulated onion, and celery salt. And what I am really charmed about her recipe making is like you measure this with your heart, which is such a great suggestion. And then you also pour in pickle juice, which I think is like a real that’s like an essential ingredient in macaroni salad. Don’t you agree? Well, this is a lot like my egg salad, which we’ve talked about before, but I do the same thing. I make a dressing with the hard-boiled yolks with mayonnaise, and I always add pickle juice cuz you want that briny saltiness. You want that that tanginess. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. But so you mix it all together, you put it in the fridge. Most of these salads taste better over time, right? So, this is one that especially when you make it, you want to let it rest for at least an hour. And then when you go to serve it, you have more eggs. You cut them in half. You lay them on top. You put more crumbled bacon on top. And then you put a bunch of scallions on top. And honestly, if I saw that at a picnic, I would totally serve that to myself first. It’s very not for the faint of heart, anyone looking out for their cholesterol. But I do think you could probably even do some swaps. I like the idea of a very heavy egg salad as a mac salad. It’s like a cross between an egg salad and a mac salad. And I think instead of bacon, if you weren’t going to eat bacon, there’s other things you could add to add a little bit of pop of flavor that could even be bell pepper to your point or scallion. I think an oniony sharpness and you could maybe even add a little touch of smoked paprika to the dressing if you wanted a smoky element. You could also do shiakei bacon. I feel like there’s ways to play with this idea. And I love that you brought up max salad because I was also thinking about pasta salad. Max salad is different from pasta salad. I think it’s a different category. So, I love that we have this new idea for mac salad. I was also thinking about pasta salads because every year I try to like them more and more. And since we’ve been having these conversations, I’ve been making them every spring and summer. Especially for hosting, it’s so nice to have a pasta salad cuz it’s inexpensive. You’re basically bulking up your produce and you can feed huge crowds. So, I found one for this pasta, pea, and parmesan salad. That sounds from Allison Roman. Yeah, Alison Roman I think makes great salad recipes. And so, she recommends any kind of small pasta. It could even be a fucili, cavatelli, anything that’s kind of shells, bite-siz pasta. Okay. Yeah. Then the vegetable elements are sugar snap peas that you slice up, which I love in a pasta salad. Yeah. Because it’s all that crunch and freshness. Exactly. And she has frozen defrosted peas. I know you don’t love peas, so I feel like you could skip the peas if you didn’t want them and you could add more snap peas or even really fresh green beans could be nice in this. Yeah. Especially like a hair co that you wouldn’t even have to cook that. Chopped really really small or blanched quickly if you want to do that. Uh 4 ounces of parmesan. So a tremendous amount of parmesan or you could use pecarino. She says like any kind of sharp cheese. I love that cuz parmesan and pea to me is such a great combination. Is it is it grated or is it chunks of parmesan? I believe it’s grated and I feel get all that umami. It’s not like these like pieces of parmesan. It’s not chunks of parmesan. It’s definitely like grated or shredded. And then she also recommends adding peashoots. But of course, if you can’t find peashoots, she recommends the tender parsley stems. And I was like, okay, I get how that mimics like that peashoot texture. I don’t know if I would add those two things myself, but I like it as an idea. And then the dressing consists of a ton of scallions in the dressing, olive oil, vinegar, and then a lot of herbs. She says kind of any combination of herbs. And some of her suggestions are teragon, which we love. Basil, also love, or parsley. Great. So, I feel like it’s Is there no She says like any herb you want. So, you could do dill. I think mint and teragon would be really nice in this. Yeah, I do. By the way, that didn’t even come to mind. Even though mint and pea is such a classic combination, but I guess when you’re going peas and parmesan, I don’t always think of mint. Perfect. Yeah. Wow. And I think that having a pasta salad that doesn’t have a creamy dressing but has the cheesyness of the parmesan, which is different than creaminess, is still really nice. Yeah, I really love that idea. You know, I wanted to bring up from a recent guest that we had named Sarah Bond. And every Friday, she shares a new chickpea recipe. And she offers this everything bagel seasoning chickpea salad. And what I love about this is that it’s it’s very like, you know, I have a nine-year-old son, as you know, I’ve talked about him a lot on this. He loves everything bagel seasoning, and he loves he’ll make a plate of like cucumbers sliced with everything bagel seasoning as an appetizer for our dinners sometimes. And he also, what a great snack. It’s a great snack. And sometimes he’ll be like, “Oh, this will be our appetizer for dinner.” I’m like, “Okay, great. Thanks.” That gives him something to do while I’m making something else. But he also loves that everything bagel seasoning. This is such a classic combination on his avocado toast. And so this is a very it’s a kind of a similar idea, but it’s beans, mozzarella, cucumber, and then this kind of zippy dressing. He’s not a lover of mozzarella, but what I love about the way Sarah offers recipes too is that she offers a lot of swaps. And so she suggests that you could do like feta instead if you wanted something that had a little bit more bite to it. It’s not just chickpeas, it’s also white beans. and you just pop open the can. You rinse them really well and then cut up celery, cucumber, green pepper, and chives. You can use mozzarella or feta. And then the vinegrett is really simple. It’s just olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, and then everything bagel seasoning plus a little bit of dried dill, which I really love. Love the And the dried dill has that kind of ranch dressing vibe without the ranch dressing. That’s why I think dried dill has a place in the kitchen, right? That’s different than fresh dill. Yeah. No, I grew up with my mom used dried dill. I think my I mean my mom did too. I think it dried dill was also maybe it was more like 80s and 90s pantry staple. It adds a lot of great flavor to this salad. So, one of the tips that she offers that I found to be personally helpful is she says toss this salad gently so that you don’t break up your beans and you don’t smush up your all of your cheese. because I would be a person who just like throw this into a bowl and stir it up really fast. And I think that’s a really great tip for people. Yeah, she writes really great recipes. Is the mozzarella fresh or is it like Yeah, like the little pearl mozzarellas. Like the little pearl mozzarella. You can use little pearl mozzarella almost the size of chickpeas. That’s a sweet idea. So certainly you could eat this, you know, for I would put this in Mac’s lunch or we could eat this for dinner. But she showed two bagels toasted with just cream cheese on top and then she pours the salad on top of that and then you could also have it in lettuce wraps, which I thought was a great idea. That’s great. And everybody loves everything but the bagel seasoning. It’s such a universally appreciated flavor combination. Now, I’m so glad you brought up beans cuz I think bean salads in general just lend themselves really well to make ahead salads and they benefit from time more than almost any other kind of salad. And there’s this salad that is really famous at the grocery store Arowan in Los Angeles. The grocery store chain. Yes. Arowan has gotten a lot of social media fame because it’s absurdly priced. But they have an incredible deli section, incredible prepared foods that even though the price might be high, people really love and talk about as being worth it. And one of their most popular salads is something I really love. It’s called the kale white bean salad. And it’s a really specific combination of ingredients. And it reminds me a little bit of the kale salad that I used to make at my deli combined with a bean salad. And it’s very California, but it holds up really well. So like it can last in your fridge for a while. You make it with kale, just regular sort of fluffy curly kale, not the linenado and not purple or anything else. Avocado, which is such a nice touch. Cubed avocado. White beans of any kind drained from the can. The other ingredients that remind me a little bit of the deli salad I used to make is they add sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and hemp hearts. And that seediness adds a lot of texture. It adds protein. It’s more textural to me than anything. It’s not as much about flavor cuz hemp hearts don’t have a ton of flavor. The sunflower. They’re they’re fatty like eating a a nut. It almost feels like it’s quinoa or breadcrumb. like it adds this heartiness to it. And then the dressing is extremely easy. It’s oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, regular Dijon mustard, and some garlic. And it’s just this combination of simple ingredients. It’s just one of those things that is great for like a complete lunch. If you wanted, you could add some tofu or chicken or salmon to this and make it even more hearty and filling. But even on its own, it’s really good with the white bean and the avocado, and there’s that creaminess. Well, I really love that you brought this to the table because, as you know, I live right down the street from the Air1 in Mid City and I do think that their prepared food section is amazing, but I have my favorites. I really love their Buffalo cauliflower and that’s usually the thing that I go for. People really love it and I love this idea that even if you don’t live in Los Angeles or anywhere near an Arowan that you can make this really great salad that is made with really simple ingredients plus something kind of different which is I think the hemp hearts that that that will definitely be something new for you know like my mom has never heard of hemp heart but like sunflower seeds and what you said sapitas too. Yeah, pumpkin seeds. And I think if you didn’t want to use hemp parts, you could skip that. You could you could also throw in some quinoa here. Or you could use some sesame seeds instead of hemp parts cuz those are easier to find. But actually hemp hearts now you can even find at Trader Joe’s you can find at Costco. And they’re sort of fun to add to salads. And we’ll link a recipe. There is actually a recipe available online that copycats the salad. Yeah. And I think what’s true for this recipe and what’s going to be true for all the recipes we’re talking about is that they’re very adaptable and versatile and what’s so great about this category of salads and I think we also can’t talk about deli salads without talking about potato salad. But I want to offer a really interesting take on a potato salad which is a roasted potato salad, not boiled potatoes. Yeah, you never see that. You never see that. But of course, the genius of Hetty McKinnon, who is such a great cookbook author and writer, she offers this uh potato salad with a jalapeno avocado dressing. And that really calls to me, as I mentioned in like the klelaw idea. I love that vegetital flavor of like of a pepper. Well, you can make this on a sheet pan. So, you you get your baby potatoes, you wash them, you dry them, you toss them with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and you roast them on a sheetpan. And while they’re roasting, you make the dressing, which is uh avocado, mayonnaise, dill, lime, garlic, and jalapeno. And you just blitz that in your food processor or your blender. She also says like if you if you don’t like it so spicy, use the half a jalapeno and then taste it. If you want to add more jalapeno, throw it into the blender and and add more. 25 minutes into your potatoes cooking, you pull them out of the oven, push them to the side, and you add green beans. You add green. So, there’s also, sorry, I think I forgot to say that there’s potatoes and green beans. So, you add green beans to your sheetpan, and you don’t want to overcook them. You still want them to be crisp, tender. You leave them in for maybe 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the size of your green beans. And then once all that’s cooked, you pull that out. You let it sit for a couple of minutes and you toss it all together with a can of drained white beans. I think what people don’t always remember with some salads, especially if it’s roasted vegetables, is they taste better even at room temperature. So, what I like about this is it almost sounds like a roasted potato dish, but it’s being offered as a roasted potato salad. It’s mostly potatoes. I love the idea of adding the green beans. I feel like you could add the canned beans or not. And I maybe even wouldn’t personally, even though I think that’s a way to make it a little more substantive, but if you make that and then toss it all out of the oven with the dressing, the potatoes absorb all that dressing when they’re hot, just like a good homemade potato salad would do, and then you can just let it come to room temperature. And because there’s no mayonnaise, it can kind of No, there is there is mayonnaise in there mayonnaise. Yeah, there is mayonnaise in it. But I do I agree with you. I had the same thought about it like sitting really well on a buffet. So, this is the kind of thing that you can make and people can kind of, you know, sit down and eat whenever they’re available. So, I just I think this would be perfect for a picnic, too. I also think the flavor of roasted potatoes is different than the flavor of boiled potatoes. So, you’re getting that kind of caramelization and toastiness, which would add a complexity. But having said that, I love potato salad. Going back to kleslaw, I love a classic, well, I shouldn’t say I love a classic potato salad because I don’t tend to like the potato salad that’s overly sweet that often you find at like a grocery store deli case where there’s hard-boiled egg and sweet pickles. That’s not my go-to. I will eat that and I’m not very picky, but when I make it at home, it looks a little different. But I do love like a mayonnaise-based potato salad. And actually, the dressing I use for my kleslaw is the same exact dressing I use for my potato salad. They’re to me very interchangeable. Also, just to remind everyone, we share recipes on our Substack. Every Sunday, we’re starting to share salad recipes. We’ve been doing soup recipes all winter and into spring. And now that we’re getting into the warmer season, we’re sharing salads. And this recipe we just shared this past Sunday, which is for my herby potato salad. It’s the same salad that’s in my cookbook. It’s the same salad I made at my deli and it is the same dressing I make for my kleslaw. So, if you’re looking for that dressing, this is where to find it. But the way the salad goes is, first of all, in this time of year in late spring and early summer, new potatoes are just so good. Like the flavor is coming out of the ground. You can’t describe it. Yeah, you can’t describe it. So, it’s absolutely my favorite time of year to make potato salad. And especially if you can get your hands on farmers market potatoes that have just been harvested. It’s worth a trip to the farmers market. They’re naturally kind of sweet. I agree. And I also find that those kind of potatoes hit the grocery stores at this time of year, too. Even like your regular, you can find these baby new potatoes kind of everywhere because they’re actually being harvested this time of year. Exactly. So, yeah. Whether it’s at your grocery store, at the farmers market, getting some new potatoes, boiling them until they’re tender, boiling them in salty water until they’re tender, and then while they’re still warm, you can cut them while they’re still warm or keep them whole, depending on your preference. Having the dressing hit them when they’re warm, is going to help the potatoes absorb all that dressing and makes them more flavorful. And the dressing we’ve already talked about, mayonnaise, yogurt, d whole grain dijon, a little touch of sugar, apple cider vinegar. I also like to add sliced celery to mine because I like that little crunch contrast. Yeah, I do. And then I also add Sorry for your friend who hates this. I had a tremendous amount of fresh herbs. She hates fresh parsley. I thought she hates dill too. She doesn’t love dill, but she really doesn’t like parsley. Okay. Well, apologies. So, if you’re not an herb person, this is not the recipe for you, but if you are an herby person, it really calls for a lot of both parsley and dill. And I think that’s what makes it and scallion. And so you could use chive or regular scallion, but that little bit of green oniony flavor I think really makes the salad. I mean, Sonia, I really have to interject here and just say to you and for all of our listeners, I don’t know anyone who makes potato salad better than you. And I think that this herby potato salad is so revolutionary because it does have that classic dressing that everyone everyone knows. If you just like potato salad, you’ll like this. It’s like a supercharged version of it with all this freshness and flavor. It’s so comforting with the potatoes and that creamy dressing, but all those herbs are just such an explosion of flavor and freshness. And that’s really speaks to this time of year, too, which I do think also extends all through the summer. I think people want this kind of dish. They want to see it at their picnics, at their dinners. It also is really good for meal prep. It lasts for like 5 or 6 days in the fridge and doesn’t lose its flavor. And in fact, the farmer who used to grow the potatoes that I would use at the restaurant, she would always ask me on the days that I would pick up produce from her to bring me a a combination of deli salads from the case. And she would always ask for potato salad in the mix cuz it would kind of be a hearty part of her meal. So, she knows she knows what I know. She knows that you’re an amazing potato salad maker. That’s very kind. I love that. Well, I have a bit of a pivot and this is a salad that I not yet made myself. I have experienced this. My friend made it. It’s called the Tivera salad and it was written by Lady Huck who also has is a cookbook author and develops recipes for the New York Times. And wait, we have to interject. Do you know you know where she got her beginning? No. She was Aa Garten’s assistant. Stop. Totally did not know that. Oh, yeah. She was Ana Gart’s assistant for many years and that’s where she got I’m very charmed by her. I think she’s a great recipe developer. What I love about this salad and it’s in the description. They say it’s like if a Greek salad and fetouch had a baby and I had this salad at a picnic. We went to Shakespeare in the park last summer and my friend brought this to our picnic and it travels so beautifully. In the description, they warn that the recipe has a long ingredient list, but they say just know that each of the ingredients contributes to its harmony. And so, I wanted to add that because it is a long list. So, the vinegrett is super simple. Olive oil, olive oil, red wine vinegar, minced garlic, and dried oregano. And then you have tomatoes, a can of chickpeas, a diced sweet bell pepper, any color that you want. a half of a diced cucumber that you’ve peeled, calamata olives, parsley, red onion or shallot, capers, scallions, and then one pa that you toast into pita chips, and one brick of halumi, which you cube up and you toast in a pan. So, it sort of has that like caramelly flavor. But if you don’t want to toast your pa and make pita chips, you can use those pita chips that come from the bag. And if you can’t find halumi or you don’t want to take the time to do that, you can also just sub in feta. Well, I am so happy that you’ve tried this salad because I clocked it when I first saw it. I was like, “Oh, this looks really good.” But I’ve never tried it. It’s so great to hear it validated because it is a stunning looking salad from the picture. It’s very It’s very beautiful. I love fetouch and I love a Greek salad. I think you can’t get better than a pita chip in a salad, too. It’s like having that little bit of crunch. When my friend made this, she tossed it all together and she kept the pa separate so that you know right at before we got ready to eat it, she added them in, which is like really what I think what you do with fetouch too, right? No, you can add the pa into the fetuous earlier and it can sit. It gets a little bit softened like panzanella. But if it’s a welltoasted pita chip, it actually retains a lot of crunch. This is just a note for anyone living in Portland. Weirdly, the Fred Meyer homemade store Fred Meyer pita chips, it’s a grocery store here, are incredibly excellent. I once needed them for a fetouch salad. I’m just sharing that. I know we have some Portland listeners and I discovered these and they’re like no other I’ve ever found. I wish they were everywhere, but making pita chips at home is so easy. Yeah. You know, listen, I think feta is something people can all always find. I will say I had it with the halumi. It’s so incredible. Like salty and kind of squeaky. I love that texture that halumi adds. I feel like also just the idea of this of all these vegetables with a crunchy peted chip. If you didn’t want the dairy, you could skip that and still have a beautiful salad too, especially in the middle of the summer when all these vegetables are at their peak. I will definitely be trying it. So, the last salad I just want to share came from one of our listeners. So, who I happen to be friendly with outside of the podcast, but actually is a dad who’s the primary cook in his family. And he cooks so much and he shared with me that the podcast has been really helping him have new ideas. And so, as a thank you, he sent me a family recipe. Oh, that’s so kind and thoughtful. And the family recipe was for Moroccan carrot salad. It’s very common in Jewish communities. There’s a huge Moroccan Jewish community and it’s a great kind of starter salad if you want to put a bunch of salads out for appetizers or for the start of a meal and it’s so simple and it is really about just the actual combination of ingredients. So every family has their own version of it. So typically what you do is you cook the carrots before you make the salad steamed or boiled until softened. So it’s not a roasted carrot salad. It’s not typically a raw carrot salad. And you want them just al dente. You don’t want them super cooked. I’ve never had a Moroccan carrot salad. This is like a completely new idea to me. So, are they in little coins? Yes. So, you cut them in coins. I feel like you could do this before after steaming. And every recipe is going to tell you something a little different, but you cut them in coins or in half moons depending on how bigized pieces. Some people might even dice it. You steam it until al dente or you boil it until just al dente. You’re just trying to soften it and also get it warm so it’s gonna absorb the dressing. And so in his family’s dressing there’s haresa and cumin. And those are very traditional additions. Some people make it with haresa, some people just add a little chili pepper, garlic, and those are the predominant spicing and ingredients. And then some people add cilantro, some people add mint. You don’t have to add either. The dressing is typically some combination of olive oil and lemon juice or something vinegary. Really simple. A little touch of sweetness. But the other thing is that this is one of the salads that tastes better as it marinates. You could eat it right away, but it tastes even better when it’s been hanging out in the fridge for a little bit and those carrots really absorb all those spices. And it’s just a little complex flavored salad that’s quite simple to make. Sonia, as you know, I have a complicated relationship with carrots. I know. I know. I’m always afraid to share a carrot salad, but it’s okay. We can all have our own preferences. We can all have our own preferences. I have to say, I’m incredibly curious about this because this idea of you’re not overcooking it. I think to me that seems like the number one tip is don’t overcook your carrots. And all these warm spices, fresh herbs. It’s probably very jewel like looking. I won’t bring it to your house, but if you end up bring anything to my house, come to my house today, tomorrow, anytime. You know, it’s my beet salad and my carrot salad. I would be so happy to see you. I would eat anything that you brought me. Oh, well, I feel the same way. This was so much fun. And just a quick reminder that we do have a Substack. Your herby salad has was just released. We’ll link everything in our show notes. And until next time. Until next time. Bye. Thanks for being our food friend. 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