Beautiful Salads

[Rachel Perlow]

I just had the most beautiful green bean salad with my lunch. It came from a local lunch place, I'll have to find out which and get a recipe. But, I wanted to tell you about it. Blanched green beans with diced red and yellow bell peppers, white and black sesame seeds with a sesame oil based dressing, maybe with a little rice vinegar. Simple and delicious and visually stunning.

Are there any salads, or other dishes, you make primarily for their visual appeal, but taste good too? Tell us about them, recipes welcome.

[Miss J]

I just had the most beautiful green bean salad with my lunch. It came from a local lunch place, I'll have to find out which and get a recipe. But, I wanted to tell you about it.

*ahem*

Ladies & gentleman, this is what I love about you all.  

Obligatory salad comment:

I had a really lovely plate of gravadlax tinted with beetroot as part of a salad at the Tate Modern this weekend. The fish was typically salmon-orange on one side of each slice, and gradually deepened to a deep beetroot-y red on the other side. Absolutely beautiful, and quite tasty too. It was served with a handful of frisee, a good grind of black pepper and a wee drizzle oil.

[Sandra Levine]

I serve mixed green salad in a cobalt blue bowl, strictly for the visiual appeal.  That bowl is not large enough, however for main course salads.  I prefer in that case, to use a round, white, flattish pasta bowl and take pains to arrange the ingredients to form a pattern, either concentric circles, or a clock-liek pattern, or stripes, depending on the ingredients.  I always present the salad to the table for admiration before tossing with dressing.  This kind of preserntation gets as many "oohs," and "aahhs," as dessert.  Well, almost as many,

It's important to select ingredients that contrast in color and shape as well as taste good together.

[researchgal]

One of my new faves for a colorful salad--

baby mixed greens with orange slices (or blood orange), sliced radishes, red onion and toasted pinenuts all with a light shallot vinaigrette.  Always gets rave reviews.

Oh another one that's great in the summer, watermelon, feta, mint, watercress, red onion--beautiful and refreshing...

[Sandra Levine]

Small black olives are a good addition to the orange, lettuce, radish, pine nut mix.

[researchgal]

Yes, I think I tossed some kalamatas in at one point.  Personally I think small black olives are a good addition to just about anything.  You might call me an olive freak!

[CathyL]

Sandra, we should start a thread about favorite serving bowls/platters (although it sounds a bit too Martha, I suppose).  I love choosing what to serve on which!  

Rachel, I make a salad very similar to the one you describe: young green beans (or sugar snaps), blanched, dressed with a fig balsamic vinaigrette, wreathed with strips of roasted red & yellow pepper.

For visual appeal, it's hard to beat a platter (rectangular & sky blue, in my case) of sliced heirloom tomatoes of different colors and sizes, scattered with chopped garlic, scallions and leaves of basil.

[Sandra Levine]

Yes, I know what you mean and I feel the same way about feta.  I'm careful about overuse, though.

[Liza]

Some of my favorite things:

Shavings of Reserva Parmigianno-Reggiano...torn chunks of smoked trout...roasted cherry tomatoes...

Last night I accidentally happened upon something new for salads: crushed potato chips. Don't ask. It wasn't pretty, but it tasted delish.

[Rachel Perlow]

Jason and I had dinner at a Thai place in West Palm Beach, Florida, that did this. It was the only thing memorable about that dinner.