Summer is here, the veggie beds are bursting, and I look forward to dining daily on freshly picked salad. Just typing those words has my mouth watering and for good reason--there is no vegetable dish more decadent than a well-crafted salad. Over the years I have perfected my daily salad, becoming a bit of a salad snob along the way. Got a hankering for a salad fit for a snob? Follow these surprisingly simple salad-crafting tenets:
1) Grow your own lettuce. Lettuce is easy to grow, requires very little soil depth (it can grow happily in a kiddie pool), and is quite forgiving. A few times a season I open 2-3 packs containing 10 or so lettuce varieties and scatter them willy nilly in any patch of exposed garden soil I come upon. I water. I wait. I eat lettuce. It is really that simple. Growing your own opens up a whole world of tender varieties of ridiculously delicious lettuces--lettuces that will never see the bins of a produce aisle since they're just too delicate to transport. Growing your own also allows for the freshest tasting salad--even the lettuce I get from the farmer's market has been traveling and then sitting around for several hours--once you've had freshly harvested, chi-rich lettuce, it is truly hard to go back to anything else. Plus food that is homegrown and tenderly cared for just tastes better and is better for you (and I adore my lettuce and they know it).
2) Make your own dressing. This seems like a hassle at first, but it is surprisingly easy and quick. We don't even own a bottle of dressing since nothing tastes nearly as good as homemade. I used to make up a small batch and use it for the week, now I just make it as I need it and it takes me less than 5 minutes. My work horse is a simple vinaigrette of champaign vinegar and extra virgin olive oil (perhaps 1:3 parts) with a dusting of sea salt and a pinch of sugar. If I have a few more minutes or dinner guests, I will mix rice vinegar with extra virgin olive oil, a minced clove of garlic, salt and pepper to taste and, for variety, a small dollop of of dijon.
3) Eat salad with something crunchy and something soft. I love mine with goat cheese or tomatoes and toasted pecans. But you could do any type of soft cheese, fruit, or vegetable along with any kind of toasted nut or seed (I pan toast quickly in a preheated cast iron skillet).
Bon Appetit & Peace,
Annie
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