COOKING TIP: Keeping Fried Shrimp Straight

When shrimp are fried, they tend to curl up. To avoid this and to keep them straight when frying, make two 1/4 inch deep incisions on the underside of the shrimp, about two inches apart.

THINGS I LIKE: German Shredded Salads

In my former  scientific career, I had the opportunity to travel to countries around the world for meetings, research presentations and to confer with colleagues. Many of these travels took me to Germany where I found a way that they made a dish that I had never seen before - shredded salad.  Carrots, beets and white radishes were shredded (rather sliced into very thin strips) and were prepared using a  a variety of vinaigrette dressings. Small portions of each  salad were placed  on some lettuce leaves and presented as  totally refreshing and very attractive, three colored salad. I enjoyed them enormously and found three very simple recipes to prepare them, which are presented below. Since every German Chef and home cook seems to have their own recipe for making these salads, what I have given below  is only a basic recipe for each salad. Salads can be made to your own taste by the modification of the amounts of the ingredients listed or addition of other ingredients*.

WHITE RADISH SALAD

 Diakon (Chinese radish) or White Icicle radish, shredded*
1/3 C extra virgin olive oil
1/4  C red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
TT  Freshly ground back pepper

Mix all ingredients, chill and serve alone or as part of a mixed salad plate.

CARROT SALAD

10 oz carrots, shredded*
1/3 C extra virgin olive oil
1/4 C lemon juice
TT salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix and serve, as above

BEET SALAD 
 Whole beets, fresh, boiled, roasted or canned, shredded
1/3 C rice wine vinegar
1/8 tsp sugar
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
TT salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mix and serve, as above.

*You can modify any of the the dressings to your own taste by adding sugar or a little honey  if you like your dressing sweeter, various herbs that you enjoy, horseradish for a more spicy salad or by using different acidic ingredients (other citrus juices, different flavored vinegar's, etc)

** To shred vegetables, use any slicing device such as a Mandoline that has attachments to cut vegetables into thin strips.I use a Japanese implement, called a Benriner slicer, which is easy to use for a variety of slicing tasks; cutting paper thin slices or cutting strips of various sizes, etc. They can be found at any good kitchen supply store or on line and are an excellent implement to have available in your kitchen. The largest holes on a box grater can be use in a pinch, also.