I was invited to a barbeque on Thursday. Well, not really. I just sort of showed up and helped set up the place for the party. And then just stayed through. I knew a lot of the people who were attending, so I think people were more pleased to see me than upset that I had never been invited. If they even knew.

Since I was crashing a barbeque, I thought I'd bring something to eat. Apparently, grill space was at a premium, so I opted to make a salad instead. Now I could have bought a tub of potato salad or coleslaw from the supermarket, but that seemed a bit uninventive. And my reputation as a cook precedes me, so it'd seem odd for me to bring prepared food.

Instead, I picked up a bag of apples, a bunch of celery and some other things. I made Waldorf salad, which used to show up all over the place, but nobody eats it now. I thought a bit of nostalgia would go well with grilling, and it seems I was right. People remarked that they hadn't had Waldorf salad in years. You should make one, because it's really simple, and because it's a good salad.

Waldorf salad

Ingredients

• 2 stalks celery
• 1 lime
• 3 tart apples
• sugar
• 200g walnuts, toasted
• 100mL mayonnaise
• 15mL whole grain mustard
• salt
• black pepper

Directions

1. Wash the lime and grate the peel off the lime, making sure not to grate in the pith. Then squeeze the juice into a large bowl.
2. Peel your apples and chop them into cubes. Toss them with the lime juice as you do this, so they don't turn brown. I chose Granny Smiths, because they have a good texture and a refreshing tartness.
3. Now, taste the apples. They should be tart, but also sweet. If they're not, sprinkle in a handful of sugar and let it macerate for a while.
4. Wash the celery and chop it into cubes, of approximately the same size. Add it to the bowl.
5. Sprinkle in the walnuts, which can be whole or crumbled. You can toast them earlier to give a nice texture and aroma.
6. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise and mustard to make a dressing. Add salt and pepper to taste. You want something that has a bit of kick, but not overwhelmingly vinegary.
7. Toss the dressing with the salad in the large bowl, and store in the refrigerator for an hour before serving. When you pull it out, serve it immediately because mayonnaise has a tendency to spoil at room temperature. The classic method of serving it is to mound the salad atop a bed of lettuce.

Serves 6.