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Tropical Salads: Pineapple Hula Salad AND Apple n Date Salad

© winddancer

It's summer time ..a season of bright and vivid colors. Of course, you spend more time outdoors, you find it too hot to be spending a lot of time in the kitchen. The men have fired up the grills more often than you would want them to, and you have been racking your brain for what to serve with their charred pride and joy; the grilled steak, hamburger or hotdogs.

Maybe you have been invited to too many cookouts and you have been asked to bring something. Well despair not, here are two recipes for salads that you can choose to first try out at home before showing it off to the friends. Both salads are colorful and exotic- very tropical looking and tasting.

Now , prepare the ingredients and go hunt for the presentation platter.

Pineapple Hula Salad

1 ripe papaya

2 whole chicken breasts, split, skinned, boned and cooked

1 large rib celery

2 cans pineapple chunks, drained

½ cup macadamia nuts or peanuts

1 cup (250 ml.) mayonnaise

2 tsp. (10 ml) curry

salad greens

chives and sliced kumquats for garnish

To prepare papaya, slice papaya lengthwise in half on cutting board. With large spoon, scoop out seeds; discard. Remove peel from papaya using vegetable peeler or paring knife.

Dice enough papaya to measure 1 cup. (250 ml.) Reserve remainder for other use.

Dice chicken on cutting board. Set aside.

To prepare celery, trim stem end and leaves from celery rib on cutting board. Slice celery diagonally.

Combine papaya, chicken, celery, pineapple and nuts in large bowl.

Blend mayonnaise and curry in small bowl.

Spoon mayonnaise mixture over chicken mixture, blend thoroughly. Cover, refrigerate salad for at least one hour.

Serve salad mounded on salad-green lined serving platter. Garnish, if desired.

Makes four servings.

Apple N Date Salad with Dressing a la California

3 crisp apples, cored and chopped to make 4 cups

1 cup (250 ml.) chopped fresh dates

½ cup (125 ml) slivered almonds

4 crisp lettuce leaves

Salad Dressing:

1 T. worcestershire sauce

1 T olive oil

1 T. lemon juice

grated rind of ½ lemon

Mix apples and almonds together with dressing. Pile in lettuce cups..

For the dressing: Combine ingredients together in screw-top jar and shake well.

Serves 4.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Cook's Notes:

Store leftover papaya tightly wrapped in refrigerator. Cut papaya should be eaten within two days. Another way of using leftover papaya if one does not want to eat them as is is to add them to a blender with some other juicy fruit and serve as a drink.