Salad season is arriving!

[Malawry]

Since I added meat and fowl back into my diet a few years ago, I've become a huge devotee of the salad-with-meat. Nothing beats the combination of crisp greens, tart or creamy dressing, and some kind of salty meat as a summer meal. Now that baby greens are appearing at the farm market I'm seeing salads for many many dinners over the coming weeks.

I especially enjoy classic meat-and-green salads. Tonight I had iceburg lettuce with blue cheese dressing and crisp bacon for dinner. Duck was made for adding to salads...frisee with duck confit, toasted walnuts and thyme-laced vinaigrette is a brunch favorite in my household. I made a five-spice-rubbed seared duck breast salad for my mother-in-law recently, over mixed greens with matchstick vegetables and a plum vinaigrette. I ate the steak salad lunch special at Ortanique when I worked there: romaine with worcestershire-demi-glace vinaigrette, flank steak and housemade potato chips, a scrumptious combination of meaty, cool, rich and crisp flavors. The salade nicoise is a summer regular in my household; I eagerly await the first green beans of the season so I can start cracking open those cans of Italian oil-packed tuna I have waiting in the pantry.

I enjoy vegetable salads without meat quite a bit of course, but I eat them almost every day. And then there are the mayonnaise-bound and other creamy non-green salads...I make many of these at work. The chicken salad with walnuts and raisins is extremely popular, and the vegetarians I feed enjoy the black bean salad with sour cream-cilantro dressing.

What kinds of salads do you love best?

[purplewiz]

I love salads. The best salad is any salad made of greens picked fresh from the garden. Preferably topped with freshly picked tomato sliced on top, and maybe some freshly picked green onion and freshly picked cucumber. Sadly, since it's still too early to plant here in CO (it's snowing out right now), that's still a bit in the future.

I love Thai beef salad. I've seen different variations called different things at different restaurants: Crying Tiger Salad, Neua Num Tok, Waterfall Beef salad. Whatever it's called, it's strips of rare grilled beef over greens, cucumber, tomatoes, and red onions, with a chili/fish sauce/lime juice dressing intense enough to blow your head off. Fortunately, I like having my head removed in that manner, and I make something similar every couple of weeks or so.

Tuna salad. Not just the sandwich spread, but tuna in salads. Grilled or canned, I don't mind, tuna, like bacon bits, just seems to elevate a salad. A couple weeks ago while we were on vacation, I'd ordered a caesar salad with chicken on top, and the restaurant was out of chicken. (No, I don't know how they ran out of chicken. I was a little giggly on the wine by then.) So they served me the same salad with slices of rare grilled tuna at the same price. I won.

Wilted lettuce salad with hot bacon dressing. This always tastes like summer to me because it's what Mom did with all the lettuce that was about ready to bolt but had to be used NOW.

Just thought of Insalata Caprese...what a wonderful way to use up all those tomatoes that turn ripe at the same time. Or panzanella, with cubes of ciabatta.

Mmmm.

Marcia.

[Basilgirl]

Cobb

[eunny jang]

Salad nicoise is my absolute favorite in the summer. Tuna grilled rare, cloaked in cracked peppercorns. Mustardy, shalloty dressing. Watercress as the greens base - stands up well to vinegar and capers and tuna and olives.

Come to think of it, watercress in everything, with ceaser-ish dressings with lots of parmesan, with asian-ish dressings with sesame oil and rice wine vinegar...one of my favorite greens.

Summertime barbeque salads of tomatoes and iced white onions. Potato salad with hot vinegar and bacon. Peak-season corn, almost raw, with red onion and cilantro.

TABBOULEH, with more parsley than grain. Lots and lots of lemon. Eaten with romaine leaves. Perfect too-hot-to-move dinner.

[Jinmyo]

Lardons and poached egg on frisee is the perfect salad.

But just about any salad that is well made will do.

Mesclun with a quick vinaigrette tucked under some sliced duck breast. (Sorry, Rochelle, salad is made to accompany duck, not the other way around.) Or tucked under or atop any grilled fish.

Salade nicoise is great and wonderful with watercress, eunny jang.

I've yet to have a Cobb salad that wasn't a bad idea, Basilgirl. What is your way of making them?

edit:

But my favourite salads are always slaws whether remoulade or just cole slaw.

Edited April 30, 2004 by Jinmyo (log)

[Basilgirl]

I've yet to have a Cobb salad that wasn't a bad idea, Basilgirl. What is your way of making them?

I use Julia Child's recipe...each ingredient (crisp bacon, poached chicken or turkey, blue or Roquefort, avocado, HB egg, tomato...) is lovingly bathed in a light coat of dressing, then beautifully arranged as stripes atop the shredded/chopped lettuce in a big bowl, which I think also gets a light light dressing. After everyone admires it, the best part is tossing it all together into the perfect meal.

At least that's what I think.

[bilrus]

I like a nice chef's salad with good meats and cheeses (no tired ham and flourescent yellow american cheese) and a creamy dressing.

It doesn't have the greens you are looking for, but a few weeks back I made a grilled beef salad with cliantro, matchsticks of green apple (in place of papaya - I think) and a slightly spicy Vietnamese flavored dressing that was really good.

And add another vote to the cobb column.

[JAZ]

I like cabbage salads, because they can be made and dressed ahead of time without getting soggy and weird. I make a sort of generic Asian cabbage salad, a Thai inspired salad with Napa cabbage and cashews, a German inspired salad with apple, carrot, bacon, and rye croutons with horseradish in the dressing, as well as more or less "American" versions.

For inspriation with salads with meat (or fish) and greens, check out Lettuce in Your Kitchen by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby. Great book.

Edit: Oh, and Jinmyo's post reminded me of how much I like celery root remoulade, especially with good ham and gruyere cheese cut into matchsticks and added to the celery root.

Edited April 30, 2004 by JAZ (log)

[lala]

Shaved raw fennel and oranges. Lovely with salmon or chicken.

Caprese

[reesek]

my current favorite is arugula & spinach (what i happen to have growing right now) with strawberries and goat cheese. i like to dress it with lemon, big crunchy grey salt and greek olive oil. one night we had it for dessert and i added some candied hazelnuts and served it with moscato d' asti.

i totally agree that the salty meatiness is delicious on salads. these days, i'm getting that fix from smoked albacore. i pair it with greens (um, arugula and spinach - it's shocking how much i have from what i planted) and dried sour cherries and a smidge of goat's milk feta - impossible to have too much cheese. ever.

[dlc]

i totally agree that the salty meatiness is delicious on salads.

I will occasionally accomplish this by adding to my vinagrette a tablespoon or two of drippings that I have saved from roasting chicken or turkey. Here in TN our spring salad greens are in the peak of readiness. It is so wonderful to walk out at lunch or dinner and gather a handfull of greens and herbs for a salad.

[Majra]

I love salads that combine greens with fruits, nuts, and cheese.

Baby spinach with sliced strawberries, crumbled feta, red onion, and balsamic vinaigrette. Hearts of romaine, halved red grapes, crumbled feta, and toasted walnuts with your favorite vinaigrette. Both of these salads are nice with chicken.

Sliced steak belongs on salads that include roquefort.

My brother makes a salad from May 2003 Gourmet magazine with pork tenderloin, cabbage, spinach, oranges, avocado, red peppers and other stuff. It is a good dish for entertaining as it is tasty, beautiful, and holds up well.

[reesek]

It is so wonderful to walk out at lunch or dinner and gather a handfull of greens and herbs for a salad.

you are so right DLC. i'm heading to an edible plant sale tomorrow...can't wait to over-purchase tomato and herb seedlings. the amount of money i have been giving to the packaged herb people lately is making me very cross. only my thyme survived the winter...i've got some scattered (thanks cats) cilantro and italian parsely, but the greek oregano, marjoram and worst of all, my tarragon didn't make it.

i crave tarragon. loose in salads, chopped in soup and most especially in mayonaise - it's a lovely flavor bridge.

[redfox]

One salad I love is mixed herbs -- parsley, cilantro, basil, sorrel, thyme, what have you -- dressed with equal parts rice wine vinegar and sugar heated together with a sprinkling of red pepper flakes. Crispy noodles or very very thinly sliced white onion are nice on top of this one.

Otherwise, I like a mixture of fresh greens ("spring mix" at the local co-op is a favorite) with odds and ends of what I think of as "salad stuff" -- carrots, red peppers, radishes, red onion -- and then something sweet and something toothsome. For sweet, a favorite is currants. Toothsome might be toasted walnuts, or crisped stale pita, or even hard-boiled egg. Dressing: very mustardy vinaigrette.

[Malawry]

How about mesclun mix? Do most of you use it?

I used to really love the stuff...bought big bags of it at Whole Foods and used it regularly in salads and on sandwiches. But then I got a little disillusioned with it. I am not fond of the dandelion greens in the mixes I usually find locally (I like them, but only in wilted salads), and lettuces I love like Bibb don't show up in the mix at all. Nowadays I buy heads of lettuce almost exclusively. I rotate between red leaf, frisee, bibb, romaine.

The pits is the bagged salad stuff though. It always tastes like plastic to me.

[Behemoth]

Last year I came up with this:

fennel bulb, shredded

1/4 of a preserved lemon, slivered

some of the fennel fronds, chopped, for color

oil cured balck olives

olive oil, a little lemon juice & a little paprika (again color) for dressing

The idea was a cross between an italian fennel & orange salad, and a moroccan preserved lemon & olive salad. The fennel was sweet so the salad wasn't too sour or salty overall. Great with any grilled meat or fish, like a slaw.

Another cool thing that my grandmother used to do: she would pick about 2 well-packed cups of wild oregano, chop, dress with salt, lemon and olive oil, to be eaten with pita bread. Supermarket oregano is a little too furry, but if you have access to an herb garden it is the most wonderful thing in the summer.

On the "less is more" front, I have to admit Marcella Hazan's green beans with just red wine vinegar and olive oil & salt just blew me away, it seemed absurdly simple but if the ingredients are top quality it is really amazing.

edited for the sheer hell of it.

Edited May 1, 2004 by Behemoth (log)

[KatieLoeb]

One of my favorite inventions is "Katie's Funky Waldorf Salad". Rather than having celery, apples and walnuts, I substitute sliced fennel, diced pears and cashews. I also add a handful of golden raisins for sweetness and some crumbled blue cheese. The dressing is commercial Russian/Thousand Island that's too thick to start with and then thinned with a bit of defrosted frozen apple juice concentrate. After it's all mixed up I throw in a bit of the chopped fennel fronds for some greenery and a bit more anise flavor. It's really good.

Once in a while I'll make a Spinach and Strawberry salad with a thin very lemony mayonnaise type dressing on it.

I'm a big fan of mesclun or spring mixes but I tend to jazz then up a bit with some local farmer greens or almost always with some watercress for that peppery bite. Salad mixes can sometimes be a bit bland, so the watercress kind of brings it somewhere between bland plain, and too peppery watercress on its own.

I love to throw nuts into my salads. Cashews are my favorite, but walnuts, slivered almonds or even soy nuts for some crunch are always welcome.

Beets are a common salad addition in my household as well. Sometimes Mandarin orange segments for sweetness. Cubed avocado. Grape tomatoes. Chopped hard boiled eggs if I happen to have them around. Cubed cheese of whatever is in the dairy drawer and needs to move out.

Sliced leftover roast beef, London Broil or Turkey breast is great on a salad and makes it a substantial meal in my book.

[robyn]

Once in a while I'll make a Spinach and Strawberry salad with a thin very lemony mayonnaise type dressing on it.

I'm a big fan of mesclun or spring mixes but I tend to jazz then up a bit with some local farmer greens or almost always with some watercress for that peppery bite.  Salad mixes can sometimes be a bit bland, so the watercress kind of brings it somewhere between bland plain, and too peppery watercress on its own.

I love to throw nuts into my salads.  Cashews are my favorite, but walnuts, slivered almonds or even soy nuts for some crunch are always welcome.

Try toasted pine nuts.

I do a variation on your salads. Mesclun with pink grapefruit sections. Pine nuts or walnuts. Some goat cheese if I'm feeling thin that day . And some Brianna's blush wine vinaigrette (somewhat sweet). Robyn

[andiesenji]

I love salads of any kind, however my favorities are vegetable salads, tomatoes, peas, blanched carrots, celery, peppers, etc., mixed with various grains and perhaps a bit of meat for flavor.

The Waldorf type salads with chicken are also high on my list of favorites.

The classic gurkensalat is the most refreshing on hot summer days. The sweet-sour taste is a lovely counterpoint to cold sandwiches as well as grilled meats and poultry.

I recently made a coleslaw with cabbage, jicama and radish dressed with a sour cream and white balsamic vinegar dressing which I tucked into pita pockets with grilled teriyaki skirt steak.

[foodie3]

love french potato salad with fresh tarragon, shallots and parsley any time of the year!

[bronihk]

i'm actually thinking of doing a 'fancy' salad dinner wherein guests get to pick from a variety of salads (maybe 5) to fill out a meal. thought is they'd pick 2-3 salads which would be served as courses (hopefully 2 lighter, one heaftier). so i'm looking for ideas both app style salads as well as more substancial, meatier salads. some ideas i had were: panzanella, cobb, fennel/lemon/parm, type of rice or pasta salad, greek, curry chicken etc. i want to get creative though. does anyone have any more ideas re: salad dinner party?

thanks.

[foodie3]

try french lentils salad. i flavor mine with preserved lemons and add sun dried tomatoes, green onions, fresh herbs, apple, walnuts, or whatever else you like.

[GG Mora]

Lardons and poached egg on frisee is the perfect salad.

This, and many variations on the theme.

Last night was masses of spicy young mesclun with a few toasted pine nuts, a few crumbles of gorgonzola, some not-too-crispy thick-cut Vermont bacon chunky bits, small sections of garlic scape quickly shown the hot bacon fat...all tossed together with a modicum of balsamic vinegar and light olive oil, fleur de sel and very coarsely ground black pepper. Poached egg on top. The best part, IMO, is the runny egg yolk distributed throughout the salad.

Fresh greens from the garden demand a philosophy entirely different from that applied to store-bought greens (at least store-bought greens in their Vermont manifestation). Through the winter, I'll mix up a light vinaigrette with garlic and mustard, sometimes a splash of fish sauce. Summer greens are so delicate, anything more than a sprinkling of this and that would opress them.

Another favorite salad is mache & roasted beets & avocado with shallot vinaigrette (ala André Soltner). Mache, being a somewhat sturdier green, seems to be the exception to the dress-it-lightly rule.

The Salad Patch:

Edited to add image.

Edited June 22, 2004 by GG Mora (log)

[ninadora]

I could write a novel on this thread, instead i will share only this;

my most favorite, most decadent, most filling salad ever. I ate it alot in paris....

fresh mild lettuce (like boston or somethin'...a wee crisp, not quite romaine)

country ham cut in to rough slices

slices of comte (lots of cheese)

a generous portion of freshly deep fried slices of new potato (sometimes rounds, sometimes wedges...rustic, think rustic)

an extremely strong dijon vinagrette....(the kind of vinagrette it seems impossible to recreate in this country, I try and I try, I buy every "extra strong/plus forte" dijon I can find, I go to gourmet shops...the mustard is not the same....) tart and spicy, strong enough to clear your sinuses if eaten on its own, and to cut through the potato...

should I explain to you that the hot potatos melt the cheese and you've got this delightful nutty cheese/salty ham/potato thing going on and then you have the crisp greens with that insane dressing to cut the richness. this is comfort food.

ohhhhh its soooooooooo gooood.

[chefdg]

It sounds strange but one of my favorite summer salads is watermelon and red onion with watercress and pinenuts. Soak the thin-sliced red onion in ice water for a least 1/2 hr. before using in the salad to take some of the bite away. A simple red wine vinaigrette is all you need if all the ingredients are impecably fresh.