Grandma Unrath Salad

Every family has traditional dishes, but I'm guessing mine isn't the only family that has these goofy things that people from outside look at us like we've lost our ever-lovin' minds for eating. We've always called this Grandma Unrath Salad, and everyone in my family knows exactly what you mean when you say it.

Grandma Unrath was my maternal grandmother (her last name was from her second marriage and nothing to do with us). If we were having a holiday dinner at Grandma Unrath's, we were having this salad. Every single time, without fail.

I have to admit, when I was a kid I hated this salad. Hated it with a mad passion. Would sit at the table for hours, pushing it around with my fork, until finally my mother gave in and let me get down. Now I make it on holidays on purpose. I've not only grown to love the salad, but making it reminds me of her. I like to think wherever she is, she's smiling at the fact that we always have it (along with some Aunt Nellie's sweet & sour red cabbage... that was also part of dinner at Grandma's).

I cheat. Grandma always bought a head of lettuce and chopped it up. I buy a bag salad because I'm lazy and I suck at chopping lettuce. I also use my favourite Kraft Mayo with olive oil, and she would have slapped me silly for using anything other than Hellman's. It doesn't matter what you use, but I can tell you Miracle Whip is not an option. Other than that, it's salad stuff: celery, tomato, onion, and cheese. The thing you cannot leave out is the green olives. They make the whole thing work.

Rarely will you ever make a tossed salad that takes several hours. This one requires sitting for at least a couple of hours (I usually do at least four, although two will do). You also want to make sure you dice everything pretty fine, like about 1/2 inch. I always just slice the olives (or buy the sliced ones if I think of it), because diced olives are goofy unless you're making tapenade.

Anyway, dice the tomato, celery, onion, and cheese, add the sliced olives, sprinkle on some salt and pepper, and stir really well to combine. Then cover the bowl and stick it in the refrigerator while you do other things. Do NOT add the lettuce or mayonnaise at this point!

Just before serving, add the lettuce and mayonnaise and stir really well. It won't look like it's enough mayonnaise when you first start. It's plenty, trust me. The lettuce will not wilt, exactly, but it will soften. It's like putting dressing on coleslaw. As soon as it's mixed and everything is coated, it's ready to serve.

Thank goodness for my second-oldest sister, who told me the trick of leaving it alone for a couple of hours! I had tried to make it for a while, but always just mixed it and served it. Doesn't work.

Grandma Unrath Salad

Serves 8

1 cup cheddar cheese, diced (extra-sharp cut into 1/2-inch dice)
1 cup celery, diced (cut into 1/2-inch dice)
1 cup sliced green olives
1/2 cup onion, diced
3/4 cup tomato, diced (fresh, diced)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
6 cups lettuce, chopped (or torn into bite-sized pieces)
1 cup mayonnaise (must use real mayonnaise)

Step 1
In a large bowl, mix together cheese, celery, olives, onion, tomato, salt and pepper; cover and refrigerate at least two hours.

Step 2
Chop lettuce and mix into bowl with mayonnaise.

Serving Size: 1 (133.1 g)

Calories 169.5

Total Fat - 9 g

Saturated Fat - 2.7 g

Cholesterol - 27.3 mg

Sodium - 697.8 mg

Total Carbohydrate - 10.7 g

Dietary Fiber - 0.9 g

Sugars - 2.3 g

Protein - 12 g

The other thing I should mention is that if you have any of this left at the end of your meal (and I always do now since there are only two of us), you have a maximum of 36 hours to eat it or it's done. And 36 is pushing it... you're better off eating it all for dinner, and having some for a snack later that night. You should really try to finish it off at lunch the next day, but if you can't then definitely dinner that night. It doesn't keep well... remember how I said it was like putting dressing on coleslaw? You know how much liquid gathers in a bowl of coleslaw? This salad does that, but lettuce doesn't have the structure cabbage does to keep its crunch, and also the cheese gets a little goofy.

Definitely make it! Just plan to eat it all. I've never been able to figure out how to halve it... You'd think it would be easy, but it just doesn't come out right.