Lets go - whats in a salad?

The post xmas bulge - time to eat better I guess..but who wants to be a rabbit?

My mum used to make the old iceberg lettuce, quartered tomatoes and hard boiled eggs covered in a dressing made of condensed milk and malt vinegar.  Any healthiness was demolished by the dressing..not great culinary memories for me.

It took me a long time to look at a salad with anything close to enthusiasm. I like interesting salads - roasted veges with haloumi, spicy salad mix or a rocket, endive, mustard greens with a hazelnut or walnut dressing. Maybe an asian style slaw.

So whats in a nice salad?

Answer is whatever you want it to be. I go with whatever I have in the fridge.  For the young ones - weekend markets are cool and cheap. Nothing like getting a good coffee and wandering around the stalls getting vege, cheese, bread and meat.

For an easy vege salad I combine colors so I use eggplant, zucchini, red capsicums, red onions, garlic cloves (optional not all like the strong taste and smell). I cut the veges into strips and put them in a bowl with some olive oil and salt and pepper. Toss and then cook on a heated BBQ grill. Not too cooked i.e. burnt but not raw. once cooked I toss with some rocket and dress with a pesto dressing. You can make the pesto - a green leaf - basil, baby spinach, or rocket, garlic, a nut (pine nut, cashew, walnut or other) blitzed in a food processor or with a mortar and pestle. Once combined add olive oil and parmesan and gently stir together to combine. Season and taste. Or just by some in the supermarket - you can pick the standards or go for something different in a sun dried tomato pesto or a red capsicum pesto.

When using as a dressing you may want to add a small amount of extra oil to allow it to coat the veges easily. Not too much or you will end up with ail and not a lot of tasty salad. Toss and season the salad.

For a green salad I combine salad leaves - again I like the peppery tastes of rocket and mustard leaves. Mix with some red onion and cherry tomatoes cut in half. I dry toast some pine nuts or hazelnuts too. I love to have this salad with bbq lamb - cutlets, or butterflied leg yum!. When I do then the dressing is a hazelnut raspberry dressing. Generally the recipe is to taste little bit of this and a bit more of that But a basic recipe is:

3 tablespoons of hazel nut oil
1 tablespoon of raspberry vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of castor sugar
1 tablespoon of water

The water softens that tartness of the dressing. You can add and take away from this recipe - replace the sugar with salt or add a bit of dijon mustard as well.

Presentation wise I bbq the butterflied leg or cutlets. Once rested I slice it.  I arrange a bed of the salad on a platter and place the slices of lamb on top. Sprinkle with the toasted nuts and drizzled with the dressing. I have more salad on the side. Enjoy!

Me xx