Newfoundland Cold Plate – a traditional post Christmas favourite. Recipe

by Barry C. Parsons

Newfoundland Cold Plate – a traditional post Christmas favourite. Heres a simple guide to putting together this simple, nostalgic favourite of Newfoundlanders everywhere. Newfoundland Cold Plate A Newfoundland cold plate is something everyone in the province will know, and every family will have their own variations of essential additions to their particular version. Growing up in the 60’s & 70’s in Newfoundland, a cold plate was actually a weekly occurrence. After the Sunday roast of beef, ham, chicken or ham the leftover cold meats would be served up for supper with a variety of deli type potato salads, pasta salad and cole slaw. Nowadays, this meal is recognized more as a bit of an indulgence and is served in my own family only a few times a year now, usually following big Holiday meals like at Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas. A cold plate can also be the theme for a coordinated pot luck supper around the Holidays where each person can be delegated to bring a particular cold sliced meat or a selected salad. It’s also a terrific buffet idea for parties or open houses during the Holidays which is how we most often serve it. For the purposes of this post I am going to concentrate on a few of our family favourites as pictured in the photo at the top. Looking clockwise from the cranberry sauce at the top of the plate, you will see cole slaw, picked beet potato salad, mustard potato salad, egg and apple potato salad and a simple pasta salad that’s shown using farfalle pasta for presentation sake but one we most often made with plain macaroni growing up.  Continuing past the pasta salad is leftover roast beef, ham and leftover turkey. Between the turkey and cranberry sauce is Traditional Newfoundland Dressing, a breadcrumb, onion and summer savoury based stuffing for poultry which is universally used in Newfoundland. To be honest, these are barely recipes at all really and any of the amounts can be adjusted to personal taste. The photo got such a response when I posted it to our Facebook Page a few months ago, that I resolved to write this post more as a guide for some of the many people who requested that I post the recipes included on the plate. I hope you enjoy trying some of them. Some other cold salads you can try for this meal can include any of these that have previously appeared on Rock Recipes Lemon Chive Grilled Corn Salad Lemon Shrimp Pasta Salad Dijon Coleslaw Deviled Egg Potato Salad Print Newfoundland Cold Plate Newfoundland Cold Plate - a traditional post Christmas favourite. Heres a simple guide to putting together this simple, nostalgic favourite of Newfoundlanders everywhere. Course: Dinner Cuisine: Newfoundland Servings: 12 or more servings Author: Barry C. Parsons Ingredients For the Coleslaw 1 cup salad dressing 1 tbsp vegetable oil 2 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar pinch salt 4 cups shredded cabbage 1 cup grated carrot For the Beet Potato Salad 6 cups plain mashed potato 1 cup salad dressing 1 rounded tbsp sugar optional 1 cup finely diced picked beets 4 tbsp picked beet juice approximately For the Mustard Potato salad 6 cups plain mashed potato 1 cup salad dressing 1 rounded tbsp sugar optional 1/3 cup plain yellow mustard more or less to taste Egg & Apple Potato Salad 6 cups diced cooked potato or cut in small chunks 1 cup salad dressing 1 large Granny Smith Apple diced or cut in small chunks 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper 3 hard boiled eggs, roughly chopped pinch salt For the Macaroni Salad 6 cups cooked macaroni rinsed in cold water and well drained 1 cup salad dressing 1 small carrot finely grated 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish pinch salt 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper 4 hard boiled eggs roughly chopped Instructions To prepare the Coleslaw Mix together the salad dressing, vegetable oil, sugar, vinegar and salt. Let sit 5 minutes, then stir again. Toss with the carrot and cabbage. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Note: One variation I have seen on this basic recipe is to substitute the carrot for well drained crushed pineapple to make Pineapple Coleslaw. To prepare the Beet Potato Salad, mustard Potato Salad, Egg & Apple Potato Salad or Macaroni Salad. Simply mix together all of the ingredients until very well combined. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Recipe Notes SALAD DRESSING: Most potato and pasta salads call for salad dressing which is the jarred, spoonable type dressing, like Kraft Miracle Whip which looks much like mayonnaise. If you want to make a substitute using mayonnaise, simply mix together 1 cup mayonnaise with 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, 1 rounded tablespoon of white sugar and a dash of paprika. Stir well and let stand for 5 minutes before stirring again and using in the recipe. A cold plate is generally a make ahead meal at our house. Generally all of the salads are made a day in advance so that they are well chilled but a few hours refrigeration is will do.  Buy my cookbooks on Amazon!