*crispy waffle*

I will admit that I have never been big on salad. We didn't eat a lot of salad growing up because a lot of our favorite vegetable dishes were cooked. (Pinakbet, a type of vegetable stirfry is one of my all-time faves).

The reason we eat salad, like, three or four times a week now is because I've finally dialed in the easiest salad ever.

How? I finally started buying bag salad and spinning it in my trusty Oxo salad spinner. I used to buy each of the types of greens, then wash all the dirt off of them, tear the leaves into bits, rinse them again, then spin them in the salad spinner. I liked the salad in the end, but the process was a real turnoff, so odds are I would look at the lettuce in the fridge and grab the stir-fry-easy snow peas instead.

Also, I make my own dressing.

I hate bottled dressing. It always tastes kind of chemical to me, and it is always too sour, too sweet, or too creamy. I started making my own, which started out as ambitious as the lettuce I talked about above. This also had me reaching for the snow peas instead. Finally, I figured out how to reduce the ingredients to only the bare essentials. My basic rule of thumb is 4 parts oil, 2 parts vinegar, 1 part honey or other sweetness. Then, on top of that, add whatever floats your boat. I only make enough dressing to coat the greens a bit so they aren't drowning.
Now salad is thrown together literally two minutes before dinner.

I personally like salad to have elements of bitter, sweet and crunch. For bitter, my favorite is arugula (otherwise known as rucola, or rocket). I basically don't make salad at home without arugula now (even though generally I find it an overused nouveau ingredient in other things). For sweet I put a bit of honey in the dressing. And for crunch I really like salted pecans.

Find a variation you like of these ingredients, and you'll probably find yourself eating salad almost every day too.

Everyday salad
Serves 4

Ingredients
150-200 grams baby salad greens (I like a combination of arugula, baby chard and curly leaf lettuce -- this is what's in my fave salad mix)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
½ tablespoon honey
a couple pinches of salt
a few grinds of black pepper
handful of chopped salted pecans

Rinse the greens and spin them in a salad spinner. Add the pecans. Set in a bowl and place the bowl in the fridge.
Place the garlic in a small bowl. Add the balsamic vinegar, then the olive oil. Pour the honey into the same measuring spoon that you used for the olive oil. (This will keep the honey from sticking to the spoon – a brilliant tip I learned from Alton Brown!) Add the salt and pepper. Whisk together the ingredients. (Alternatively, you can place all the ingredients in a small jar, close the lid and shake it like mad. All you really need is to make sure the vinegar and oil come together.)
Pour the dressing over the greens and mix. Serve immediately.

Labels: recipes, the savory and salty

posted by sheryl | 7:57 PM |

We're daily salad makers, although we usually just opt greens and tomatoes and maybe the odd avocado or green onion. In the winter I like to beef up my salad with nuts and fruits and my favorite salad cheese, fresh goat cheese.

I read a terrifying article about salad in a bag the other day, though, it definitely put me off bag salad.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/03/foodsafety.fooddrinks
By

Mevrouw Cupcake 9/11/08 9:40 AM

Yes, I have read about the dangers of bag salad as well. Although it definitely depends on where it comes from. I just finished reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma", and although there are a lot of questionable environmental issues when it comes to the organic bagged salad that he follows in one chapter, it doesn't seem to have the safety/pathogen concern any more than regular lettuce. I think it definitely depends on the source of the salad mix -- if you hit the farmer's market or you know where it's coming from, you can maybe have a bit more faith in it.
By

sheryl 9/11/08 1:33 PM