The Shopper Kitchen: A West Coast Salad for Summertime

By ANGELA McRAE, Special to The Coweta Shopper

This summer, I have been listening to the Beach Boys’ Live in London CD almost every time I get in my car. Their songs have been the soundtrack to summer for most of my life, and I am happy to hear these cheerful tunes as I’m tooling around town on these hot, humid days.

As a fan, I was pleased to learn that a Beach Boys tribute band is coming to The Nixon Centre next month, so I ordered tickets immediately. As a result, I’ve been thinking about songs like “California Girls” more than usual.

Have you ever thought about the fact that in that song, of all the ladies all across the country, the girls in the South are the only ones who are praised for the way they talk? The East Coast girls are the stylish ones. The Midwestern girls make the boys feel “all right,” which has always sounded a little like faint praise to me. The northern girls are good kissers who keep the boys warm at night, and the West Coast girls are tan and wear bikinis. The saving grace is that the boys wish all of these girls were in California with them, so there’s that.

Perhaps I had the West Coast and its ever-present sunshine on the brain when I came across this vintage recipe for West Coast Salad recently. I was flipping through one of my old metal recipe boxes when I found what I believe is a late-sixties recipe booklet from the National Biscuit Company, later known as Nabisco, featuring dates (the fruit, not the girls).

I like dates. The person who originally owned this particular old recipe box had a strange fondness for prunes, a fondness I happen not to share, but the date recipes? Bring ’em on.

I was intrigued by this recipe’s blend of flavors that are both sweet (dates and oranges) and savory (sesame seeds and Worcestershire sauce). The recipe calls for toasted sesame seeds, so I added mine to a skillet and cooked them on high on the stovetop for only a minute or so, stirring them constantly, just until they were beginning to brown.

With the promise of more warm temperatures ahead, we can all use a new salad recipe for those days when we don’t care to spend too much time near a hot stove. We can’t all be California Girls, but we can sure enjoy their sunny salads, and I recommend this one.

West Coast Salad

1/2 cup chopped dates (plus a few whole dates for garnish)
2 oranges, sectioned and drained well
1 small onion, cut into thin rings
10 ounces salad greens, chopped into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Place first four ingredients in salad bowl. In small measuring cup, add remaining ingredients and blend, then toss with salad. Yields 4 to 6 servings.