Summer is lasting much longer than normally and this weather is perfect for small and large salads of many kinds for lunches or dinner and for savory and sweet tarts. This week, I will focus more on the salads. Why so? Simply because I need to think of taking more photos of my tarts, especially the savoury ones which do not have much “kitchen bench time” and disappear by the time of think of the photo.
In savoury salads, I like to think of two types:
- the simple salad made of one element;
- the “composed salad”, which in French refers to a salad made of an assortment of ingredients. Those can be cold or cold and warm.
Sweet salads will be for another post.
Savoury simple salads
Guess what? Those I make all the time, yet I don’t have any photos of them! The lettuce salad is the most frequent one. It is one of the first “recipe” I learnt as a child from maybe the age of 6-7, Mum may correct me in a comment if I am wrong! We were making the vinaigrette under instructions from Mum: ” a little mound of salt in the serving spoon, cover slightly with ground pepper, fill the spoon with homemade red wine vinegar, mix and pour at the bottom of the salad bowl, add 2-4 spoons of oil”.
The amount of oil depends on the type of lettuce, some require more than others.
And if you are wondering if the children like it, yes they love the salads! I have had some of my kid’s friends for meals, some of them have not had much exposure to salads before and are a bit sceptic, but often end up liking it a lot after a few trials.
The other classic “simple salad” which in summer are so good are the tomato salad and the carrot salad. Both are nicer prepared a bit before the meal and the vinaigrette mixed through as this will release the flavours. We used to fight to have the juice of the tomato salad when I grew up and this is starting in my own house too! The grated carrot salad is nice with some mustard added to the vinaigrette (the vinegar is then reduced).
Composed savoury salads
The possibilities are endless. I like to look at what I have in the fridge/freezer and fruit bowl, think of what herbs I have in the garden and get going. There can be different elements requiring cooking independently, but generally nothing to technical.
My key rules are:
- Use ingredients which blend well together
- Adapt the seasoning to the ingredients
- Be creative!
Before you get going, you need to decide if the salad will be a side or entree of lower nutritious intake or the main part of a meal. If it is to be the main dish of your meal, ensure you have included carbohydrate and/or proteins or you will be hungry again after an hour time!
Here below are a few ideas, follow (click click!) to get to the recipes (not available for all).
Green and more green: lettuce, flat beans, basil.
Black lentils, calamari and radishes (also served with carrot salad)
My friend Neil’s mixed salad:
Wao! This salad was awesome! Now hold on, it contained:
- lettuce
- mint
- chives
- barbecued asparagus
- orange quarters (skins removed)
- cherry tomatoes
- apple very thinly sliced
- coriander
- lime and lemon rind (look at the bottom of the page for the special equipment)
See, this is a great example that you can be creative, but remember to stop! There were many ingredients here, although not in big quantity each. The main ingredient was the lettuce. The salad was a side to a Moroccan lamb pizza. The seasoning was based on lime.
Kipflers potatoes and fresh prawns warm salad
I have to do it again to have a photo. This is a main obviously. Kipfler potatoes are those long potatoes, they are a bit more expensive as others but so perfect for salads. Boil them in their skins in salted water, remove the skin and cut in slices. The prawns are just cooked in salt water. The seasoning is a mayonnaise.
Roasted Potatoes, corn, beans, tomatoes salad
This is the perfect kids salad, all they love in one dish! Potatoes are steamed then sliced and grilled in oil&butter. The corn is boiled, the beans parboiled. The seasoning is a small filet of olive oil.
Wild rice, feta, roasted pumpkin salad
This wild rice, feta, roasted pumpkin salad is a killer! It is for a light meal. The seasoning is a tahini, lemon, honey mix. So good! You will find wild rice at the health food shops. I went to a “bulk health food shop”recently to get some quinoa and ended up with a few more bags, including the one with wild rice. The grain is so long! The consistency is a bit chewy (or maybe it needed more cooking) and the taste not very strong. It is a nice ingredient to use for a change.
Special kitchen utensils
The first kitchen utensil is for slicing tomatoes, widely used in France, hard to find in Australia.
The second one is to remove some citrus peel.
