Windsor Court Salad Recipe

This recipe was adapted from a recipe in the book, Hungry Town by Tom Fitzmorris. This book is the definitive culinary history of New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina. The first time that Fitzmorris had this salad was with his beautiful bride on their wedding night at the Windsor Court Hotel.

Ingredients:

dressing:

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 cup vegetable oil

½ cup red wine vinegar

1 shallot, chopped

3 tbsp Heinz chili sauce

salt and pepper to taste

salad:

1 head of romaine lettuce

2 bunches of watercress

2 hard-boiled eggs (whites and yolks separated)

6 radishes, thinly sliced

2 oz. Roquefort cheese, crumbled

2 large tomatoes, cut into 1/8ths

4 slices of crisp bacon, chopped into large bits

1 large avocado, cut into 1 -2 inch pieces

Preparation:

1. To make the dressing, beat together the egg yolk and Dijon mustard. Beating quickly, alternate adding a 1/3 of the vegetable oil and a 1/3 of the red wine vinegar until the oil and vinegar have been mixed into the dressing. This will form an emulsion. Season with the chopped shallots, chili sauce, salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Chop all of the salad ingredients separately. In a glass bowl, assemble the salad layer by layer in the following order from bottom up: romaine lettuce watercress egg whites, sliced egg yolks, crumbled radishes Roquefort cheese tomato slices bacon bits avocado
3. Allow your guests to see the multiple layers of the salad before tossing it and adding the dressing.

Recipe adapted from the Windsor Court Salad recipe that appears in the book, Hungry Town by Tom Fitzmorris.