Sensation Salad

Sensation Salad originated in the kitchen at the old Bob & Jake’s Restaurant in Baton Rouge, LA.  The restaurant has long since been closed...however, I had the great privilege of eating Jack Sabin's Restaurant in the early 70's.....I thought I had died and gone to heaven....the only salads I had eaten prior to this were the old tossed green salad that was made by Mom.... never had I tasted such a thing!   My host and hostess Rig and Carol Rigby introduced me to a whole new way of eating.... unfortunately ... I hadn't learned restraint during the ensuing years!

Anyway... it is a simple and elegant salad that "Ms. Carol" taught me how to make!

Ingredients:

1/2 pound of finely ground Peccorino Romano cheese

1 pint of olive oil

juice on 3 lemons

4 tsp of red wine vinegar

6 cloves of garlic pressed with pulp and all the juice

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1 bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley (NOT THE DRIED CRAP)

very cold romaine lettuce  torn into small pieces  

Wash and spin your lettuce and pop into the cooler to chill

take the juice, garlic cloves, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk together...

add the cheese whisking all the time.... adding the olive oil into the whole shebang a little at the time ( you can use a blender.... if your not into the whisking thing!)...  if you make this FAR enough in advance it has time to MARRY and really taste AWESOME!  

chop the parsley up and toss with the Romaine.... and a couple tablespoons of the cheese.... if you have extra..... 

Then GENTLY toss the lettuce with the dressing coating all the leaves..... and serve with fresh croutons... or NOT... the dressing is so good you can almost DRINK it! 

The Cobb Salad

The Cobb salad was created by Bob Cobb the owner of the Brown Derby in Hollywood... it is a simple concoction that we serve at The Rouge Rabbit here in Baton Rouge, LA..... it is one of our most requested Salads.... every chef does his or her own presentation.... some are lined up others tossed together... but any way you serve it is FANTASTIC!

Start with fresh greens.... we use Spring Mix, and Romaine fresh and cold and crisp

Add a chopped boiled egg

Add tomatoes ( we used cherub tomatoes)

Add bacon crumbles

Add grilled chicken strips

Add half an avocado sliced into strips

Add cheese of your choice - cheddar or blue are good choices

add big beautiful croutons

And top with Brown Derby Dressing - found in Salad dressings!

Enjoy!  

The Rouge Rabbit Chicken Salad (Sandwich)

This chicken salad came from a recipe I put together when I had The Emporium, LLC in Tennessee.  It is great as a Salad or as a Sandwich!

I used to hand-pull the chicken breast after I had cooked it... but one of my customers at The Rouge Rabbit told me to simply use my food processor..I was afraid that it would be  a mess... but it ended up actually working better than all that time consuming hand-pulling of each breast.

We serve this on a bed of greens with a few grape tomatoes on the side... with a huge butter croissant that we split for the customer to turn into a 'sandwich'...or treat it as the world's larges crouton!

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken breasts (1-2...or as many as you desire!)
Mayo (we love Blue Plate)
Craisins ( a good handful... or as many as you desire!)
handful of chopped pecans
1 Gala apple
Orange Juice to Coat apples (keeps them bright and crisp...plus adds a great taste
Croissants
Greens of your choice ... and a few tomatoes    

METHOD:
 
1-2 chicken breasts boiled in unsalted water.... no seasoning added  just straight water.

after they are done... let them cool.... as they cool ... chop up some pecans and set them aside....

while the chicken cools... peel and core and apple and cut into tiny bits of apple and drop and coat in Orange Juice. 

When chicken is cool... place into food processor... and whirl until they are finely chopped...

Add Craisins, Pecans, Apple bits as well and a little of the OJ, mayo...and stir up... 

simply scoop onto the greens or directly into the croissants...

There you have it!  

Watergate Salad

Ingredients:

1 package (4-serving size) Jell-O Pistachio Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple in juice, (not drained)
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup chopped walnuts nuts
2 cups thawed Cool Whip Topping

Instructions:

Stir the pudding mix, pineapple with juice, marshmallows and nuts in large bowl until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping. Refrigerate 1 hour or until ready to serve. Garnish as desired.

Ambrosia Fruit Salad

This is a classic in our family. It can be found at almost every family gathering, especially during the holidays. It is a clean fresh taste that cleans the palate after a heavy meal. It is also great long after your food has settled and everyone is watching Football on the tube.

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1 Large Can of Fruit Cocktail, drained
1 Cup of shredded Coconut
1 Large apple, cored and diced - drizzled with Lemon Juice
2 small cans of mandarin orange sections, drained
1 cup of chopped nuts (Walnuts or Pecans)
2 FIRM bananas sliced thin, drizzled with Lemon Juice
1 small can of pineapple tidbits, drained
couple of hands full of green seedless grapes cut in half (optional due to season)

INSTRUCTIONS

The simple thing about this is you just simply mix the ingredients together (toss them gently...you don't want mushed fruit!) and cover and chill in the fridge. It makes it's own juice as it melds together overnight.

When you are ready to serve, fold all the ingredients from the bottom up to redistribute the juices over the fruits and nuts.

Place on buffet or serve it up in small compote containers.

Southern Ambrosia

• 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 small container of sour cream 1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 1/2 cups shredded coconut 2 1/2 cups shredded coconut
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows 3 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1 Large can fruit cocktail, drained 1 (8 ounce) can fruit cocktail, drained
• 1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained 1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
• 1 (8 ounce) can of crushed pineapple , drained 1 (8 ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 (10 ounce) jar maraschino cherries, drained (optional)

Added To Shopping List!

Instructions

1. 1. In a large bowl, combine the whipped topping,sour cream, coconut, chopped nuts make sure it is well incorporated together
      
   2. Then add fruit cocktail, pineapple, mandarin oranges, and marshmallows.
      
   3. Mix together well cover and refrigerate for at least 30 to 45 minutes.
      
   4. It is actually better if you cover it and eat it the next day
      

Raspberry Pecan Chicken Salad

by Holly

good lettuce ( bib, romaine, Boston, or spring mix)

pecans or walnuts toasted in butter and brown sugar

feta and blue cheese ( crumbled )

apples ( diced )

cranberries (Ocean Spray Dried Cranberries )

grilled chicken sliced or use Tyson Grilled Chicken Breast Strips

raspberry walnut vinaigrette ( I like Newman's )

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• This is a great salad any time or season of the year !
  
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• Do you have left over chicken from a Bar-B-Q ? Pull it apart to use on your salad - or grab a bag of Tyson's Ready to Serve Grilled Chicken
• 
  
• Either toast your own nuts or grab a can of Honey Roasted Pecans or Walnuts a good handful or two
  
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• Use good lettuce - a large bag of prewashed and packaged lettuce
  
• 
  
• core and dice an apple
• 
  
• grab a bag of Craisins a good handful or two
  
• 
  
• small container of feta or blue cheese crumbled - use as much or as little as you like
  
• 
  
• Good Raspberry Vinaigrette - don't drown your salad!!!! but do coat everything
  

Toss all the ingredients gently together and top with chicken strips.... This is also good with fried chicken strips purchased from the store .... just slice them up on the diagonal and place on top of the salad.... YUM>....

Shoepeg Corn Salad

by Samie

2 small fresh tomatoes diced

1 small red or purple onion diced

Green Giant White Shoepeg corn 11 oz. (drained)

a few fresh mushrooms sliced

1 cup of Italian dressing

mix together and refrigerate 1 hour
its pretty and girls love it!

Tomato - Avocado Salad

by Samie

Samie says this is the same idea as above but has a different twist... so delicious and cool in this sultry heat!

2 small diced tomatoes

1 small onion diced

1 or 2 small cucumbers diced

1 ripe avocado diced

1 cup of Italian dressing

Now gently fold it all together and cover - pop it into the fridge for an hour ... Delicious !

I think anything could be added or deleted and this concept will work....

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As always thanks for the recipes and keep them coming !