New Salad Spin-Offs

By The Food & Wine Test Kitchen

At NYC's Gramercy Tavern, chef Michael Anthony makes a stellar salad with over 50 (!) ingredients. Dazzled but undaunted, F&W's Grace Parisi borrows ideas for four easy salads of her own.

Saffron Fingerling Potato Salad with Mixed Greens and Tomatoes

Giardiniera with Ham and White Beans

Glazed Baby Beet and Carrot Salad with Cumin Dressing

Summer Vegetable Salad with Walnut-Yogurt Dressing

Warm Farro Salad with Braised Radishes

Saffron Fingerling Potato Salad with Mixed Greens and Tomatoes

Michael Anthony (an F&W Best New Chef 2002) includes just a few coins of tender, saffron-flavored fingerling potatoes in his 50-ingredient warm vegetable salad. Grace Parisi reimagines those fingerlings for this light, fresh take on a potato salad, tossed with fennel, tomatoes and plenty of greens.

Giardiniera with Ham and White Beans

This recipe is a nod to the pickled vegetables (giardiniera) in the Gramercy Tavern salad. Grace quickly soaks baby cauliflower in vinegar and sugar, then combines it with snap peas, white beans, ham and sunflower seeds to create a unique main-course dish.

Warm Farro Salad with Braised Radishes

For a farro salad inspired by Gramercy Tavern, Grace braises radishes in raspberry vinegar.

Glazed Baby Beet and Carrot Salad with Cumin Dressing

Grace loves the honey-glazed carrots and sweet roasted beets in the Gramercy Tavern salad. Here, she uses honey to glaze baby carrots and two kinds of baby beets; a cumin dressing adds to the Middle Eastern flavor.

Summer Vegetable Salad with Walnut-Yogurt Dressing

Part of what makes Michael Anthony's salad so great are the four different dressings on the plate. His walnut-yogurt dressing inspired Grace to invent her own fast riff, a puree of toasted walnuts with yogurt, lemon juice and fresh herbs. She uses the bright, tangy dressing on a mix of haricots vert, baby squash and tomatoes.