171 replies to this topic

[sheepish]

What a good thread! I had a bit of a salad epiphany at The Square restaurant in London last year. An early summer leaf and vegetable salad with half a quails egg and a goat's cheese emulsion as the first course of their taster menu. Possibly the nicest thing I've ever eaten. Went home and tried to recreate something along those lines, with much inspiration also from Michel Bras. What this highlighted to me was that really fresh produce is essential to the extent that I don't think I can buy good enough produce to do something like this justice, which kicked off me digging up the garden and trying much harder this year to grow my own. I produce lamb and pork, but honestly, you can get great lamb and pork without too much effort. You may have to order it, and get it sent to you, but it doesn't degrade from the day it's picked. Most vegetables do. Also a salad has the potential to be the prettiest food you'll ever see as the pictures in this thread prove.

My efforts so far below, but hoping to have a wider range of ingredients to play with this summer.


Testing, testing by *Mrs C*, on Flickr

[dcarch]

Indeed, salad is more than a side dish.

dcarch

Not so sweet watermelon is perfect for salad


Black garlic dressing


Palm hearts, napa hearts, arctichoke hearts, romaine hearts, with rose petals for Valentine's Day

[Fat Guy]

Those are amazingly gorgeous.

How does one make black-garlic dressing?

[Jenni]

dcarch, those salads look absolutely amazing!

[ambra]

With no dispresct to DCarch, as his creations are amazing, but everyone's creations/recipes look/sound delicious. Can't wait to make all of them! I must be needing my vegetables because I can't wait to get out to the store!

[SobaAddict70]

WOW.

[Corinna]

This thread is making me really ready for spring and the farmer's market!

[dcarch]

Those are amazingly gorgeous.

How does one make black-garlic dressing?

Thank you everyone. Cooked vegetables are difficult to plate. Salad vegetables are fresh, alive, vibrant, they always look good on a plate.

I make two kinds of black garlic dressing:

chunky black garlic - chopped black garlic in light olive oil, balsamic and pepper. Put evewrything in a coffee grinder for a few seconds so that the black garlic is still in chunks.

Black garlic sauce - Same as above, add a little soy sauce, and put in coffee grinder blend until smooth. A very dramatic almost totally black dressing/sauce.

dcarch

[emilyr]

I love rocket. Why isn't it found in every grocery store? I shouldn't have to go to the specialty grocery store

Hmm, in Seattle? Surprising. Here in Sydney, rocket is pretty ubiquitous in every supermarket. Though the quality does range from the stuff that has the taste and texture of dry grass clippings, right up to my favourite, the tender large leaf rocket more commonly sold in bunches with their roots and found in the herb section than the salad section.

In the US, rocket is more commonly known by its Italian name, arugula.

[Fat Guy]

Okay I am officially embarrassed by the sameness and lameness of my salads (and vegetable plates). I'm going to need to up my game a lot here.

[Fat Guy]

More of the same:

[slkinsey]

I love rocket. Why isn't it found in every grocery store? I shouldn't have to go to the specialty grocery store

Hmm, in Seattle? Surprising. Here in Sydney, rocket is pretty ubiquitous in every supermarket. Though the quality does range from the stuff that has the taste and texture of dry grass clippings, right up to my favourite, the tender large leaf rocket more commonly sold in bunches with their roots and found in the herb section than the salad section.

In the US, rocket is more commonly known by its Italian name, arugula.

Actually, the Italian name for this leaf is rucola. I'm not sure how or why the American name came to be "arugula." The online etymology dictionary suggests that it came into American English via Italian immigrants from Lombardy dialect (arigola) rather than from Italian per se, and given the similarity that makes sense. Before about 1985, most Italians spoke a regional (or micro-regional or local or micro-local) dialect in the home as a "first language" rather than Italian, and plenty of early 20C Italian immigrants didn't speak any Italian at all.

[janeer]

What a good thread! I had a bit of a salad epiphany at The Square restaurant in London last year. An early summer leaf and vegetable salad with half a quails egg and a goat's cheese emulsion as the first course of their taster menu. Possibly the nicest thing I've ever eaten. Went home and tried to recreate something along those lines, with much inspiration also from Michel Bras. What this highlighted to me was that really fresh produce is essential to the extent that I don't think I can buy good enough produce to do something like this justice, which kicked off me digging up the garden and trying much harder this year to grow my own. I produce lamb and pork, but honestly, you can get great lamb and pork without too much effort. You may have to order it, and get it sent to you, but it doesn't degrade from the day it's picked. Most vegetables do. Also a salad has the potential to be the prettiest food you'll ever see as the pictures in this thread prove.

My efforts so far below, but hoping to have a wider range of ingredients to play with this summer.


Testing, testing by *Mrs C*, on Flickr

Now that is very lovely. Not quite enough, but lovely.

[kayb]

My salads are usually sans lettuce or other greenery, though sometimes I'll get in the notion for it. The problem is that I don't get in that mood often enough but what I'll buy lettuce or spinach or rocket or what-have-you, make one salad, and the rest of it goes bad. But some of my favorites I go back to time after time:

Diced peel-on apples, tossed with bacon, toasted walnuts, feta cheese and honey balsamic dressing.

Marinated veggies -- cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, white radishes marinated in a rice vinegar-salt-sugar-ginger mix, or a hot brine of cider vinegar, water, dry mustard, turmeric and white pepper. (Kinda fun; turns the cauliflower a brilliant psychedelic yellow.)

Roasted asparagus tossed with canteloupe chunks, diced fresh mozzarella, and a viniagrette of lime juice and oil, sprinkled with grated parmigiano.

Black bean and corn salad with chopped roasted red peppers, a couple of spoonsful of salsa, some cumin and some smoked pimenton. You could add raw onions and bell peppers if you wanted; I don't like 'em, so I don't. I used canned black beans and canned white shoe-peg corn, being sure to drain and rinse the beans well. I keep this stuff in the fridge all the time, and eat it like a salad; my daughter eats it on tortilla chips as a dip.

Diced fresh fruit, whatever's in season, with a dressing of just slightly sweetened creme fraiche.

Roasted asparagus, hearts of palm, ever-so-slightly sauteed mushrooms, barely cooked early June peas, all tossed in balsamic viniagrette and topped with a healthy grating of parmigiano.

And the most astounding salad I've ever eaten in my life: http://www.food52.co...icnic_pea_salad

[threestars]

I am totally amazed and excited with all your salads dcarch! They look awesome, first the flowers, and then the watermelons! :) Never tried anything like that but they look delicious!

[JAZ]

Anyone who likes salads should head over the the WikiGullet project and help out with our topic of the week -- Salad!

[Jenni]

Ok, so my photos aren't anywhere near the standard of other photos here, but I promise that the salads are delicious! In case anyone is wondering, the salads were packed in a tiffin box to take on a picnic.



Here are the three salads together.



The largest container is green lentil and tomato salad. Cooked green lentils are dressed with olive oil and lime juice (plus salt to taste). Then chopped tomatoes, finely chopped spring onion and finely chopped seasoning peppers are added. Seasoning peppers are a Trinidadian thing, so maybe you won't be able to get them. They have all the fruity flavour of a habanero but none of the heat. No other pepper tastes like them, but I also make this salad with green or red chillies so you could try that too.



The middle container has courgette and feta salad in it. This is from Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian book. Courgettes are cooked briefly, then combined with feta, spring onion, dill, lemon juice and olive oil. It's so simple, but absolutely delicious. I really recommend that you try it!



Ok, so there's no way to make this look good! There are many Middle Eastern and Asian mashed aubergine dishes. This one is roasted aubergine mashed with garlic, tahini, olive oil and a slight splash of lemon (plus salt to taste). I often do mashed roasted aubergine with yoghurt and mint too.

All these salads are good at room temperature or chilled if you desire - season slightly more for chilled as the flavour is lessened when served cold.

[BarbaraY]

No photo but last night we had our very first of the season salad from the garden. Mostly mixed baby lettuces with a couple of paper thin slices of cucumber and a small wedge of Brie. Until one has had a salad of just picked lettuces, they don't know what lettuce should taste like. The difference is amazing.

[rebecca]

A delicious one I have made in the past is a snap pea salad inspired by something I once had at Chez Panisse. It has snap peas, mint and parsley, and a dressing of yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil and s&p.

Attached Images

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Edited by rebecca, 26 March 2011 - 01:14 PM.

[rarerollingobject]

Two nice clinging-to-the-remnants-of-summer salads for dinner tonight:


Buffalo mozzarella, rocket, white peach, proscuitto and chilli:



Tri colour quinoa with broad beans, preserved lemon, mint and feta:

Edited by rarerollingobject, 28 March 2011 - 02:51 AM.

[rarerollingobject]

Shaved zucchini, feta, red chilli and preserved lemon. Nice and refreshing.

[dcarch]

Jenni, picnic is such a good excuse for those wonderful salads.

Rebecca, the snap pea salad is so elegant looking.

rarerollingobject, I admire your incredible ability to orchestrate meat and vegetables into harmonious and delicious salads. Something I have been hesitating to try.

- - - - - - - - - -
Buffalo Mozzarella and home-grown Great White and Green Zebra tomatoes

dcarch

Edited by dcarch, 07 April 2011 - 08:07 PM.

[rarerollingobject]

- - - - - - - - - -
Buffalo Mozzarella and home-grown Great White and Green Zebra tomatoes

dcarch

dcarch - incredible!!

[Jaymes]

Our favorite (by far) summertime salad is Watermelon Salad. We make it at least once a week, and often more. Everyone in the family, most certainly including the children, eats bucketloads of the stuff. And we think this is one of the best salads you'll ever find.

There are a lot of recipes floating around with lists of exact amounts of ingredients, etc., but basically:

Get a good, sweet watermelon, and chill it.

At dinnertime, seed and cube however much of it you think your family can eat, and put it into a big bowl.

Then add:
thinly-sliced sweet onions, like Vidalia, or Spanish reds, or Texas 1015's, or Maui
some Kalamata olives, seeded & halved
a handful of fresh mint leaves
a handful of crumbled best-quality feta cheese (we like the cheese imported from Israel or Bulgaria or Greece)
drizzle with a little good olive oil
splash with a little vinegar - wine vinegar, or balsamic, or sherry vinegar

Toss together and eat.

Yum.

Edited by Jaymes, 08 April 2011 - 10:47 AM.

[Jenni]

^^^
Jaymes, thank you for that recipe. I had something similar once on a much beloved holiday, and you have bought back a memory. I will definitely make it soon.

[rarerollingobject]

A nice one, adapted from a Rozanne Gold recipe:

Salad of oranges, radishes, rocket and pistachios, with a cinnamon, pomegranate molasses and honey dressing.

[dividend]

This recipe for Peach and Roasted Beet Salad is awesome. I love the pairing of beets with peaches. I ate it a lot last year in the late summer. It's a great side dish to roasted salmon. I think this combination would be great with a dressing of honey, ginger, and rice vinegar, but I'm a sucker for honey/ginger with fruit salads.

*It would help to spell BEET right, huh?

Edited by dividend, 20 April 2011 - 10:37 AM.

[Paul Bacino]

Lately,

Curley Endive, salted Campari cherry tomatoes halfed, squeeze of lemon, nice oil
( Galardi ) works.. Fresh cracked pepper.

I love the bitterness ( endive ) and the sweetness ( tomato ).. could add a bit of ricotta salata if I had it.

Cheers

[auds]

My favorite favorite salad is fresh shell peas, just cooked; raw sugar snaps, sliced; pea shoots; sliced radishes; and goat or mild feta cheese. Either a light lemon vinaigrette or a honey cumin dressing. Picture TK when spring hurries up and gets here. I CAN'T WAIT FOR PEAS!

[OliverB]

this is semi on topic: I'm wondering if it's just me, or did you also more recently buy a bag or box of salad mix just to get a nice whiff of compost smell once you open it, even if it's totally fresh? I've returned quite some lately, even though most of the salad looked nice, the smell was simply off putting. I wish I'd have room in the fridge for a couple different heads of fresh salad, but it's not there, so if I want a mix of things I need to get those bags or boxes, but lately I've almost given up on them and just get a napa cabbage and slice some off for salad. Quality or freshness or what ever they do for preservation seems to lack lately, and not only at one store.