Blue Corn Chicken Salad

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

1/8 tsp Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 cup seasoned blue cornmeal (to cup of cornmeal, add 1

tablespoon salt and 1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper; see note.

4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs

2 cups peanut oil

4 cups mesclun or mixed red and green lettuce leaves

4 tablespoons Balsamic Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

2 medium red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and julienned

2 medium yellow bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and julienned

2 medium beets, roasted, peeled and sliced

2/3 cup Cayenne-Buttermilk Dressing (recipe follows)

CAYENNE-BUTTERMILK DRESSING:

2 tablespoons sour cream, regular or low-fat

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon minced red onion

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon cayenne

Salt and freshly ground pepper

BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE:

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 cup olive oil

Salt and freshly ground pepper

In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs, Worcestershire sauce,Tabasco sauce and salt and pepper to
taste. Pour the cornmeal into a shallow bowl. Dip the chicken into the egg mixture and dredge with

cornmeal. Heat oil to 350 degrees or until edge of meat sizzles when immersed and fry the chicken
for about 5 minutes, turning until brown on all sides. (May be prepared several hours ahead and
refrigerated). Dress the mesclun with the vinaigrette and arrange on the top halves of four plates.
Slice the chicken 1 inch thick and arrange each thigh in a fan shape beneath the greens. Scatter
the peppers and beets over the chicken and dress generously with Cayenne-Buttermilk Dressing.

For the Cayenne-Buttermilk Dressing: Combine sour cream, buttermilk, garlic, onion, lime juice and
cayenne. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. May be prepared one day ahead and refrigerated.

For the Balsamic Vinaigrette: In a blender, combine the vinegar, onion and honey; puree. With
motor running, slowly add the oil until emulsified. Season to taste with salt and pepper and pour
into a squeeze bottle. May be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature
before serving. Yield: 4 servings

Butternut Squash Salad

An apple-juice-based dressing brings out the sweetness in the roasted squash that defines this
seasonal salad served over spinach.

one 2 1/2-pound butternut squash

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup apple juice

1/4 cup cider vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

3 green onions, thinly sliced crosswise

one 5-ounce bag baby spinach

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Cut squash crosswise
at point where it begins to widen. Place both pieces, cut sides down, on foil-lined sheet. Roast 20
to 25 minutes or until bottom half of squash feels just tender when pierced with fork. Remove
bottom half of squash from oven and cool on wire rack. Roast top half of squash 15 to 20 minutes
longer or until just tender. Remove to wire rack to cool with other squash half. Meanwhile, prepare
dressing: In medium-size bowl with wire whisk, combine oil, apple juice, vinegar, sugar, salt, and
pepper. Remove and reserve 1/2 cup dressing. When squash is cool enough to handle, remove
and discard seeds and peel. Cut squash into 3/4-inch cubes. In bowl with dressing, toss squash
along with green onions. To serve, on large platter, spread out spinach. Mound squash mixture in
center. Drizzle reserved 1/2 cup dressing over spinach Yield: 8

Cactus Salad

1 7-1/4 ounce can natural cactus in salt water, drained

1 7 ounce can pimientos, drained

Ingredients - Dressing

3 tablespoons salad oil

1 scallion (green onion), washed and minced

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar

1/8 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Arrange a bed of catus on a small platter. Slice the pimeno into julienne strips and place over the
cactus. Mix together the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad. Marinate in the refrigerator
an hour before serving. Yield: 4 servings

Milkweed Pods Vinaigrette

CONTEMPORARY RECIPE - serves 10-12

1 quart young whole milkweed pods (under 1/2 inch long)

1 cup milkweed buds and blossoms (optional)

2 cups small white onions, peeled

1 quart water

1/2 cup maple syrup

Combine all ingredients in an enamel pot and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Stir
occasionally. Drain and rinse with cold

water. Place ingredients in a crock and prepare marinade.

Marinade:

2 cups chopped pimentos

1 cup chopped fresh dillweed

1 quart cider vinegar

1/2 quart corn oil

Blend all ingredients together thoroughly and pour over mixture in the crock. Stir gently. Cover
and refrigerate overnight to enhance flavors before serving. This tasty, colorful dish is a favorite
in July and August, one worth putting by in extra amounts for winter enjoyment.

No milkweed growing where you live? See if the folks at http://www.keepsmilin.com sell seeds for
it in their Native American Plants collection! Yield: 12 servings

WILD GREEN SALAD Ojawashkwawegad

----SALAD----

1 cup wild onions -=or=- leeks, - well ch

1 quart watercress

1/4 cup sheep -=or=- wood sorrel

1 1/2 cup dandelion leaves

----DRESSING----

1/3 cup sunflower seed oil

1/3 cup cider vinegar

3 tablespoon maple syrup

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Toss together the salad ingredients. Combine the dressing ingredients & mix well. Toss the salad
in the dressing & serve. Yield: 1 recipe

Prickly Pear Vinaigrette

2 ounces The Perfect Purée Prickly Pear Cactus Fruit, thawed

1 ounce lime juice

1 ounce rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon finely minced lime zest

2 teaspoon minced shallot

5 ounces canola oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

chiffonnade of 10 mint leaves

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.

2. For best flavor, allow dressing to sit for one hour before use. Whisk again before serving.

Yield: 8 (8 ounces)

Tumbleweed, Pinto Bean, & Wild Rice Salad

3/4 cup dried pinto beans

1 1/2 cup tumbleweed greens or curly endive,; or fennel tops

1 1/2 cup cooked wild rice

3/4 cup sunflower oil

3 tablespoon herb flavored red wine vinegar

2 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

2 small garlic cloves, peeled

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 chive blossoms for garnish

Tumbleweed spreads quickly by tumbling across the sandy soil, scattering seeds that catch and
sprout in the depressions in the soil. The new young shoots must be picked when they are two to
three inches tall, before they become dry and brittle and develop thornlike prickers. to harvest
them yourself, pick the sprouts from the base of the stem. Wash thoroughly until all the sand and
dirt are removed. Drain and pat dry. Soak the beans overnight in water to cover. In the morning,
drain the beans, rinse them under cold running water, and place them in a saucepan with fresh
water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer several hours until
the beans are soft and the skins begin to split. Add water when necessary to keep the beans from
drying, and stir occasionally to prevent them from burning. In a bowl, toss together the greens,
beans and rice. Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least 30 minutes. In a blender, combine the

oil, vinegar, chives, garlic, pepper, and salt. Blend at high speed until the chives and garlic are
finely pureed. Pour the dressing over the salad, toss, and garnish with chive blossoms. Yield: 6
servings

Wild Greens And Flowers Salad

Wild (using tame) Greens and Flowers Salad

Salads were much liked in the Spring when new, tender greens appeared. A great variety of
mixtures was used. Since salt was uncommon or not used at all, salads were flavored by herbs, oil
pressed from seeds, and especially with a vinegar made from fermentd, evaporated uncooked
maple sap (which we can't do or get). So this is an approximation of the spring tonic salads
beloved by all woodland people after the long winters.

1 cup watercress leaves and (only) tender stems

1 cup lamb's quarter new leaves (or use small spinach leaves)

1 cup arugula lettuce torn (not cut) to bite-size pieces;

can also use Bibb or less espensive leafy (not iceberg) lettuces

1/2 cup tender nasturtium and violet leaves torn up

1/2 cup nasturtium and violet flowers (in season)

1 Tbsp honey

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/3 cup salad oil

As much tender mint leaves as you like in the salad

2 tsp fresh mint chopped fine and bruised

2 tsp chopped tarragon (fresh) or 1 tsp dried if necessary

optional: salt and pepper to taste

Combine honey and vinegar, whisk in oil, which in crushed mint. Season to taste with small
amount of salt. Pour over greens and flowers in large bowl, tossing for at least 3 minuts to cover
all lightly with dressing. Serve immediately.

Lambs quarters (chenopodium album) is a fuzzy-leafed weed that can be found in city empty lots
(though it depends on the invironment whether you'd want to eat if if gathered there). I don't
know its Ojibwe name, "Indian spinach" it was called by older ladies years ago. It is very very
high in beta carotene (plant vitamin A) and calcium, and is a good food for nursing mothers where
there are no dairy cattle or milk. Violets of all sorts flower all over city and suburban lawns as
weeds. All species are high in vintamins C and A. Chickweed (Stellaria media, Ojibwe name
winibidja bibagano, or "toothplant"") is another common spring herb that grows all over (as law
weed for example) as low, spreading mat, It is very high in vitamin C, and was therefore a common
anti-scurvy remedy for this deficiency disease. I'll be running ID pix for it in the Plants section

here. Small amounts of new mustard leaves (brassica negra) were used for pungnt flavor, probably
not too easy for city-dwellers to find, but sometimes sold in produce or health food stores. Wild
onions and leeks was also traditional and sought from early spring until gone in winter --

flower heads as well as leaves and bulbs would be eaten in salads as well as cooked

Salad oil was pressed from some kinds of seeds I don't know, from sunflowr seeds, but most
especially the oil that can be pressed/cooked out of acorn meal which has been cold-water
leached of bitter tannin. There was supposedly less of the bitter tannin in acorns from certain
oaks: mitigomisk. Bitter kind was called wisugimitigomisk (bitter oak). The acorn meal was a
general good (and whole acorns of the sweet kind were roasted) and the oil was all-purpose
cooking and household utility oil, used on bullrishes for weaving to keep them soft, water
resistant, and shiny.

The general idea of a traditional native salad is to cut down on salt, by emphasizing flavors from
vinegar, honey or maple syrup, herbs, and ground pungent seeds (such as mustard). The petals
of most flowers that will later be edible fruits or berries can be eaten, but not all taste good. Elder

flowers and basswood flowers are especially good.

Traditionally, the main huge salad eating-feasts were in early spring, when a great many wild
plants -- tough and inedible even if cooked later -- come up as tender new shoots and leaves.
What we now can do, because of refrigeration and shipping, is eat salads all year long -- and we
should! All vegetables lose some of their nutrient value in any kind of cooking. Young people
should be aware that delicious and healthful salads are part of our Native food traditions, so eat
plenty of it. Yield: 6

Wild Mushroom Salad

10 - 16 oz fresh spinach

2 cups fresh wild mushrooms (portabelo) sliced

1/2 lb jicama small cubes

4 hard boiled eggs,sliced

1/4 cup green onions,including tops, sliced

1/2 pound bacon, fried,crumbled

1 cup fresh mushrooms,sliced

Dressing:

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup catsup

1 tsp salt

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Wash spinach in cold water and dry thoroughly. (A salad spinner works very well for this.)

Tear the spinach into large, pieces in salad bowl. Add jicama, mushrooms, eggs, onion, bacon and

mushrooms to spinach. Combine the dressing ingredients in a jar. Cover and shake well. Pour
dressing over salad, toss lightly until spinach leaves are well coated. Serve immediately! Yield: 10
servings