~The Vintage Vegetarian~ Grapefruit and Walnut Salad

It's been a while since I've done any "vintage cooking", so I thought it was about time to try something new! My health is still a bit of an issue at the moment, therefore I picked a recipe that was relatively straightforward and quick to prepare. I selected a salad recipe from a Victorian cookbook that sounded (hopefully) yummy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Grapefuit and Walnut Salad

From: Practical vegetarian cookery (1897)

The original recipe

My initial thoughts

Sounds easy enough. Not sure about putting cayenne pepper on grapefruit though... That might either be surprisingly good or really weird tasting. 

The Ingredients

(Makes approximately 4 servings)

• Two Grapefruit
• Walnuts
• 3 Tbsp Oil (I used a light olive oil, but I would suggest trying grape-seed oil if you have it)
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• A pinch of salt
• A pinch of cayenne pepper

Cooking Instructions

1. Cut grapefruit into pieces. The recipe doesn't specify what size/shape, so I cut mine into bit-sized chunks.
2. Measure out walnuts. This doesn't need to be exact, but you should have roughly twice as much grapefruit as walnuts. I crushed my walnuts slightly to make them easier to eat. Add the walnuts to the fruit.
3. Mix the oil, lemon juice, salt and cayenne pepper together. Pour over the fruit and nuts. 
4. Chill in the fridge for a couple hours.

The Result

Hmm.... I'm still not quite sure about this one. I was expecting to either love it or hate it, but the end result was just "meh". Not bad, not great. It was very quick to make, with total prep time only being about 5 minutes. But the end result was just so surprisingly bland! The taste of the vinaigrette disappears under the taste of the grapefruit (though I did notice a slight aftertaste, which I suspect was the oil). Toasting the nuts a bit might help this recipe, but I don't think I'll bother to try this one again. I'd rather broil my grapefruit with a bit of honey , instead of wasting any more on this recipe. 

Let me know if there's any type of recipe you want me to try next, or a specific ingredient (or alternatively a recipe that doesn't include a certain ingredient, such as dairy, eggs, etc)!

That's All.