Dressing a Green Salad

[Andy Lynes]

Dressing a Green Salad

This recipe is from the Leaf Salads course in the eCGI.

Green salads are most often a mixture of a number of salad leaves, but here I'm just using two strongly contrasting types; the bitter flavored and structured frisee with the soft textured and blandly sweet tasting English round lettuce.

In the UK, round lettuce may be combined with a thinly sliced cucumber and insipid hothouse tomatoes to create the world's most boring salad. With this recipe I wanted to demonstrate that in the right company, it can shrug off years of misuse and be employed to good effect.

Here I'm using it as a foil to the stronger tasting frisee, which in turn adds some much needed textural interest and acts as a sort of skeleton to give the salad shape and height on the plate.

But to a certain extent, the leaves most important job in this very simple salad is to provide a vehicle for some top quality single estate extra virgin olive oil which plays such a vital role in the dish by adding its own fruity, peppery notes.

This recipe also demonstrates the very simple method of dressing salads in the mixing bowl. It's quick and easy and precludes the need for preparing a dressing separately and is also a very good way to build up your confidence in the kitchen when judging volumes and amounts by instinct.

• yellow leaves from the heart of one large head of frisee
  
• 1 round lettuce (butterhead), outer leaves removed
  
• best extra virgin olive oil
  

juice of half a lemon

• salt and pepper
  

Wash and dry the leaves well and place in a large mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle over enough of the oil to coat the salad. Squeeze over enough lemon juice to cut through he oil, but not so much that the salad tastes acidic. This is a matter of trial and error and is down to practice and developing your culinary instincts. (Alternatively, follow the instructions for vinaigrette in the Non Stock based Sauces class and pour over sufficient to coat the leaves). Toss the leaves to distribute the dressing evenly and then correct the seasoning if necessary. Allowing one good handful per portion, mound the salad onto a plate and serve as a simple starter or as a side dish.

Keywords: Salad, eGCI

( RG910 )