Covid Cooking :: Zen & The Art of Marshmallow Salad

If I said the words ‘Marshmallow Salad’ to you, what would you envision?

Would you be grossed out? Amused? Disinterested or curious?

It’s funny how something as simple as a few ingredients thrown together can bring all these emotions and memories back to us. Eating marshmallow salad brings me immediately back to Christmas dinner as a kid.

Now I feel like I should tell you that when I say ‘Christmas dinner’, I mean large style buffet with my mom’s family (she is the youngest of 12… I have 35 first cousins… not counting their kids or spouses).  It was a prearranged and preplanned dinner in a local Temperance Hall (with an attached outhouse (when I was a kid))!

People were told what their family would bring… whether it was potatoes, turkey, cups and plates, pickles,dessert or coffee.  All carefully dictated by  what my mom and aunts decided was appropriate to ask/give and ultimately those who might not cook (or not be good cooks – ha!), be coming from a distance or what the weather might do, which would definitely impact someone bringing the turkey.

But for me, the shining bowl on the dinner table was ultimately towards the end of the table near the cutlery and the buns (and let me be clear, NOT the dessert table, but the main table with the first course meal). Bright and shiny little bowls of pickles, olives,  carrots and celery sticks, cranberry sauce, cabbage salad, jellied salad moulds (oh yeah, we had those too on the dinner table) and ultimately a big bowl of marshmallow salad (sometimes made with mini pastel coloured marshmallows and sometimes made with fruit salad rather than strictly pineapple and mandarin). It was the end of the table that seemed the most exciting as these were dishes we literally only ever had on holidays.

In this time of Covid19 and being safe indoors and practicing social distancing and doing all the things we’re supposed to, it’s nice to have something of a comfort food, a peace of mind from an easier time.  A food memory that brings happiness, wonder and good fortune at being able to appreciate and recreate the feel of a simpler time.

As an adult now, I make marshmallow salad whenever I feel like it, but it still brings back the excitement at having ‘dessert’ during dinner!

Marshmallow Salad (5 Cup Salad, Sour Cream Salad, ‘That Coconutty Thing We Put on the Dinner Table’)

As a kid, this was one of the MUST have salads at any family holiday dinner (usually Christmas) and as an adult I still make it fairly frequently when I want a bit of a treat or to entertain my friends with some old school culinary delights.

Ingredients

• 1 can of mandarin oranges (drained)
• 1 can of pineapple tidbits (or crushed), drained (keep a couple of tbsps just in case you need more liquid)
• 1 cup of shredded coconut
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup of mini marshmallows

Directions

1. Drain mandarin oranges, drain pineapple (save a couple of tbsp of liquid if you need to add more liquid)
2. Dump all ingredients together into a bowl and mix to combine
3. Let sit for a few hours in the fridge until the marshmallows have softened
4. Put on your table alongside the main course!