The Salad Of '75: A Photojournalistic Odyssey

It's lunchtime here, my fellow monkeys. As promised, I followed the recipe for The Salad of '75 (many thanks once again to Found In Mom's Basement) to see if this salady summery super-slimmer is a winner in the flavor department.

First, I assembled all of the complicated ingredients on my kitchen counter. My many apologies to the good folks at Tabasco...they are the ones who actually concocted this recipe, and I had none in the house. So I substituted the super-spicy El Pato sauce instead.



Next, I emptied the cottage cheese into my mixing bowl. I just love fancy cookin'...don't you?


Next stop, the incorporation of the albacore. Wait a second, that sounds like some crappy big-budget summer thriller with Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and The Bimbo Of The Moment. Let's just say that I added the tuna. There. That's better.

I used only a half-can, because it was a large can of albacore.


By now, Lola was going nuts. She is smart enough to know what the words "tuna fish" means, and the smell always brings her running into the kitchen anyway in search of a treat. We don't make things with albacore all that often, so it doesn't hurt for her to get a taste or two. She kept climbing up on the counter in search of a snack, so I gave her a little tasting plate of her own so that she would keep off the counter.

Manni was indifferent to it. I tried to give him a little taste, too, but he just shrugged and went back to the couch, where he was previously sprawled.




Time for the chives and hot sauce. Usually I prefer fresh chives, but I didn't have any in the house. No green onions in the fridge, either, which is weird, because they are one of my kitchen's staples.



Behold...The Salad Of '75!


The verdict? It is actually not bad. It's not delicious, it's not the pinnacle of gourmet cuisine, but is a very nutritious and filling lunch. And it is a cool dish, which is just right for summer months. I wound up adding even more of the hot sauce, along with some fresh ground black pepper, which improved the flavor...it was surprisingly rather bland at first.

Were I to make The Salad Of '75 again, I would definitely have the Tabasco on hand for that flavor. I have long been a fan of adding Tabasco to cottage cheese. I would also have fresh chopped green onions and diced tomato incorporated throughout. And perhaps most surprisingly, I would omit the tuna entirely (sorry, Lola). I suspect that it was in the recipe for the added protein content, but I find that I like the tuna the least in this dish.

Or I would just do what I always do when it comes to cottage cheese: mix in some fresh pico de gallo. Back in 1975, I would imagine that that option was not as common as it is for us today.