When I bake a large ham for Easter dinner, there are always leftovers and I鈥檓 happy about that because they can be used to create other meals. One dish in that regard that I have been making since my professional kitchen days is chef salad.
This salad has appeared on restaurants鈥� menus for decades. I like to make it at home because it provides a way to use up some of that leftover ham and any excess produce that I purchased for Easter weekend.
Before you read my recipe, let me share with you some of the history of chef salad and what the first versions were like. They do vary from what鈥檚 served today.
According to a book called American Food: The Gastronomic Story, author and food historian Evan Jones says the origin of this salad is not, apparently, a matter of record.
But Evan suggests it might have been first made in the 1940s at New York鈥檚 Ritz-Carleton hotel by chef Louis Diat.
Diat鈥檚 recipe called for smoked ox tongue, and the only salad green used was watercress.
On the plate, the tongue was accompanied by boiled chicken and smoked ham, all cut in julienne strips, and half a hard-cooked egg, and the salad was served with French dressing.
Several sources suggest that chef salad might have evolved from a much older creation called 鈥渟almagundi.鈥� It dates back to the 1700s and is described as being composed of chopped meat, eggs, anchovies and onions, with oil and condiments.
The style of chef salad served today began to appear in early editions of the Joy of Cooking. For example, my 1953 edition of that book says to make chef salad you first rub a salad bowl with garlic. Then, add lettuce leaves, anchovies, olives, radishes, tomatoes, hard-cooked eggs and shredded Swiss cheese. Moisten the salad with French dressing, toss and serve.
Those types of ingredients are still used, except for anchovies, which I could not find listed in any modern recipes for chef salad.
Today, though, rather than toss the salad鈥檚 ingredients together before serving, they are arranged on dinner plates or in a shallow bowls and the dressing is served alongside.
Also, these days, because chef salad is meant to be main course, as Louis Diat did way back when, cold meat, such as ham, chicken, beef or turkey, or a mix of meats, are always part of modern versions of chef salad. Other vegetables are also now added, such as carrots and cucumber.
The truth is, though, because it鈥檚 called chef salad, the chef or home cook making it gets to decide its exact ingredients. Below is my version that combines old and new techniques, as well as a recipe for French-style salad dressing to serve with it.
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Chef Salad
This main-course salad combines a variety of vegetables with cheese, egg and protein-rich meat, which in this case is ham. This recipe could, of course, be expanded.
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: None
Makes: Two servings
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1 garlic clove, halved lengthwise
4 cups baby mixed salad greens or chopped or torn butter, leaf or head lettuce
1/3 cup coarsely grated carrot
8 cherry tomatoes, each halved, or 1 ripe medium tomato, cut into wedges
1/4 small English cucumber, cut into thick, matchstick-size pieces
1 medium celery rib, thinly sliced
4 to 6 thick slices cold, baked ham, cut into strips, or to taste
1/2 cup cubed old cheddar, Swiss or Gouda cheese, or to taste
2 hard-boiled eggs, chilled, peeled and quartered
鈥� French-style salad dressing, to taste (see recipe below)
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Firmly rub the inside of a medium bowl with the cut side of the garlic clove. Add the salad greens, carrot, tomatoes, cucumber and celery and toss to combine.
Divide and mound this mixture on two dinner plates, ensuring some of the carrot, tomatoes, cucumber and celery sit on top of the salad greens.
Now divide and set the ham, cheese and egg on top of the salad greens. Serve the salads with the dressing, for diners to drizzle on top of their salad at the dinner table.
Eric鈥檚 options: If you roasted a turkey for Easter supper, use the leftover meat from it in this salad instead of ham. If you don鈥檛 feel like making your own French-style salad dressing, cheat and top the salads with your favourite store-bought dressing.
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French-style Salad Dressing
This tangy version of the classic dressing has a creamier mouthful because mayonnaise is used as the base. It yields enough dressing to top two chef salads. This recipe could easily be expanded.
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Preparation time: Five minutes
Cooking time: None
Makes: About 1/3 cup
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1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp ketchup
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp cider or white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp finely minced garlic
鈥� small splash or Worcestershire sauce
鈥� pinch granulated sugar (optional)
鈥� salt and white pepper, to taste (optional)
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Place ingredients, except salt and pepper, in a small bowl and whisk well to combine. Taste dressing and season with salt and pepper, if needed.
Cover and refrigerate dressing until needed.
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Note: If you do expand this recipe and make a larger batch of dressing, it will keep at least a week in the refrigerator if stored in a tight-sealing jar.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
