Chihuly — And A New Recipe

We took a trip to Asheville last weekend for an early anniversary celebration. The one request I had was to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit at the Biltmore Estate.

We had visited the Biltmore House many times before. Because the heat was so intense the day we went, we skipped touring the house again and only walked through the gardens to see the glass art.

This huge piece was centered on the lawn in front of the mansion. It was amazing. And we wondered how on earth do they transport this kind of work? Are there extra pieces in case of breakage?

These pieces are all huge. I should have photographed them with some people in the picture for scale. But trust me, it was impressive.

After the visit to Biltmore, we drove to Black Mountain for lunch. We have eaten at Veranda many times and there is usually a wait. But we were so late this time (we might have made a wrong turn along the way) that we were seated quickly.

The food is always delicious here. This time I chose the Indian Summer Salad for my side. As I ate it, I kept thinking this would be really good for our salad luncheon on the porch. And it was easy to see what vegetables were in it. It was the marinade that made it so tasty.

On our drive home, I googled several recipes and found one that sounded like a possible match. And I got lucky on the first try—this recipe, with some minor adjustments, tasted EXACTLY the same. There is very little prep involved so it's a good recipe to have on hand. It does need to be made a day ahead. I love make-ahead recipes. It was a good addition to our knitting day gathering. And we enjoyed the leftovers for a couple of additional meals.

Don't let the long list of ingredients scare you. It was one of the quickest recipes I've ever made. If you are handy with dicing the celery, pepper and onion, the rest is just draining the vegetables and measuring the marinade ingredients. Trust me. It's easy.

SWEET VINEGAR MARINATED VEGGIES (Indian Summer Salad)

1 (15-oz) can white shoe peg corn, drained
1 (15-oz) can young green peas, drained
1 (15-oz) can French-cut green beans, drained
1 (2-oz) jar pimentos, drained
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced green peppers
1/2 cup diced onion

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup white wine vinegar

Mix vegetables together.
In a small saucepan, combine sugar, salt, black pepper, oil,  and vinegar. Bring to a boil and lower heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Pour over vegetables and mix well to coat all the vegetables.
Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving. Use a slotted spoon for serving.


I had my doubts that three cans of vegetables would make much salad. Those cans looked kind of small. But it's like they expand when you dump them into the bowl. It made a large bowl of salad. These are such ordinary ingredients. We made a quick stop at the store on our way home from the mountains to pick up the ingredients and I stirred them together soon after we walked in our front door. Then the next day it was ready to serve and it was delicious.

I think that next time, I might try using frozen peas instead of canned. They are a little crisper. Yes, you use them frozen. But it was perfectly fine this way. And I'd bet money that the restaurant used canned peas. And they are famous for this salad.