This week’s challenge for French Fridays with Dorie is color-coordinated with the outside world where I am: hélène’s all-white salad.

Notice that the 1-foot mark on my snow gauge is covered…

I made a single serving for myself because Howard wasn’t around. I was dreading the salad because I don’t care for raw mushrooms, but I try to keep an open mind. The mushrooms keep company with apple, celery, and cabbage, along with a lemony mayonnaise dressing and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. The salad reminds me of a cross between Waldorf salad and coleslaw.

Even though I like both Waldorf salad and coleslaw, I didn’t care for Hélène’s salad. I definitely didn’t like the raw mushrooms, and the salad was too lemony. I’m not sure whether it was the dressing itself or the lemon juice the apples and mushrooms were tossed with. Also, the dressing was super thick, not at all pourable. I ate half of what I made and tossed the rest of the salad.

I did like the Baked Winter Squash Pasta (from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food) that rounded out the meal.

If you’re interested, you can find the salad recipe on Serious Eats here. Of course, you can always find it, in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table.

To see whether the other Doristas enjoyed the salad, you can check their links here.

Wishing a Happy Valentine’s Day to you and your honey!