Sensational Salads

When salad greens are mentioned you could be excused for automatically thinking 'lettuce'. Yes, lettuce leaves are probably amongst the most favorite salad ingredients but there are other greens that are widely used to enhance the flavour of your salad.

Salad Greens - Lettuces

Cos Lettuce - Cos lettuce (also called Romaine Lettuce) has a firm texture and a slightly nutty flavor and is a favorite when making Caesar Salad.

Little Gem - A small, compact lettuce with a firm heart and a disinct flavor, good served in wedges in your salad.

Iceberg Lettuce - Perhaps the most common of salad lettuces is the iceberg. It is fairly mild in flavor but does have a nice, crunchy texture and is good when mixed in with stronger flavored leaves.

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Lollo Rosso - A loose leaf salad lettuce, mild in flavor but with a wonderful purple-red color to add visual contrast to your salad. Because it is mild in flavor it is best mixed with stronger flavored salad leaves.


Lollo Biondo - Similar in flavor to lollo rosso, it has an pretty, curly edge to give your salad a nice visual attraction.

Oak Leaf Lettuce - A loose leafed lettuce with a mild flavor and leaves ranging in color from pale green through pink to a deep maroon.


The Chicory Family

Curly Endive and Escarole - have a distinct, slightly bitter flavor and are best combined with sweeter, milder leaves.

Batavian Endive - similar to Escarole but with a slightly sweeter taste which can withstand a well flavored dressing.

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Lambs Lettuce (Corn Salad) - this is a delicious sweet flavored leaf that makes a wonderful addition to a salad. It's also great on its own when used as a garnish for other dishes.

Rocket - This little leaf has grown in popularity, it has a nice, distinct almost peppery-lemon flavor which goes great with any of the milder leaves.

Spinach - Baby spinach leaves make a fantastic salad. Either mix them with other salad leaves or use them on their own. They are extremely nutricious, being a good source of iron and vitamions A, B and C when eaten raw.

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Watercress - A strong tasting salad leaf with a peppery flavor. Excellent when mixed with milder flavored leaves.

Salad leaves and lettuces will often form the basis of a salad but almost all vegetables can be used either as part of the salad or the main ingredient of the salad.
Many of the salad recipes will use vegetables which are simply prepared and raw but they can also be used steamed or grilled to add an interesting dimension to your salad.


Celery - I love to eat celery on its own and prefer it when it is a darker green, but finely sliced white or green celery makes a great addition to a salad.

Fennel - use it raw, cut into fine strips and add it to mixed salads. Fennel has a distinct aniseed flavor and tastes best with more bland vegetables and a creamy dressing.

Cucumber - clean, crisp and cooling - cucumber is excellent in many salad dishes with a well flavored dressing.

Carrot and Cabbage - shred them and mix together with a dressing for the ever popular coleslaw.

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Courgette - young courgettes are great simply thinly sliced and combined with a yoghurt dressing.

Onions and Spring Onions - my personal favorite is red onion, thinly sliced. They are excellent in tomato salads with a good olive oil dressing.

Peppers - these are such a versatile salad vegetable. Slice them and add them raw to mixed or bean salads, or, roast or grill them and serve with garlic, tomatoes and olive oil to make a rich Italian salad.

Green Beans - these can be trimmed and cooked for a few minutes until just tender. Add to other green salads or make a superb salad by combining with chopped tomatoes, onions and garlic.

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Mushrooms - great for providing texture to a salad. Wipe clean with a damp kitchen towel and slice thinly for use in mixed salads, or, for a more unusual side salad, combine with peanuts and avocado.

Asparagus - steam them until tender and add to green salads for a real luxury flavor.

Avocado - makes a wonderful addition to mixed green salads. Sprinkle the flesh with lemon juice after slicing to prevent it discoloring.

Tomatoes - Tomatoes for me are an essential salad ingredient! I love those which have ripened on the vine, they have a much better flavor. Try combining different colored tomatoes to add visual attraction to salads.

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Herbs are as essential in my salads as the other vegetables and leaves. They not only add a distinctive flavor to a salad, but, when added to dressings or mayonnaise they subtly change the character of a salad.

Herbs are undoubtedly better when fresh, it is easy to buy fresh herbs all year round but for convenience I like to grow them in a tub on the patio, fresh herbs are then always on hand whenever I want to add them to my salads.

Mint - There are so many varieties of mint today that I have difficulty in choosing which ones to grow! They have an unmistakable, clean, fresh taste and add freshness to a salad without masking any of the other flavors.


Thyme - thyme has a characteristic blunt lemon flavour with a heady aroma which can be detected when used in dressings. Use in salads on its own or with parsley, garlic and marjoram.

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Parsley - there are two main types of parsley, curly and flat leaf. When used in sprigs in salads its characteristic flavour is more noticeable and it can enhance a plain green salad. It also adds a pleasant herby taste to salad dressings.

Chives - have a subtle onion flavour which doesn't overpower the whole salad. Snip them over salads or add to dressings and mayonnaise.

Marjoram - sprinkle fresh leaves onto salads or add to dressings.

Tarragon - has a faintly aniseed and vanilla flavour and is best used in salads with fish or eggs, or used to flavour mayonnaise.

Coriander - one of my favourite herbs, it has a distinct flavour and is delicious added to a green salad.

Fruit, of course, comes into its own in fruit salads, but there is a place for fruit in many savory salads as well when used to compliment other flavors.

Apples - they have a lovely crisp texture and sweet taste and are fantastic when combined with softer ingredients.

Pears - excellent in all sorts of salads, but do try them with rocket or other strong flavored leaves.

Citrus Fruits - add a nice, tangy sharpness to a salad and they also go well in pasta salads with fennel or celery and a creamy dressing to bring the flavors together.

Pineapple - adds color to your salad and its sweet flavor contrasts well with more bitter salad ingredients.

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MIXED BERRY SALAD

You can use any berries you wan't here depending what is available but this is mainly what I use for a mixed berry salad:

• 400g strawberries, hulled and halved
• 250g raspberies
• 150g blueberries
• 150g blackberries
• small bunch mint finely chopped (and a few sprigs for decoration)
• 3 tbsp elderflower syrup

Wash all of the berries and drain well.
Add the chopped mint and elderflower syrup to the berries. Mix carefully and serve straight away decorated with the mint sprigs.