Putting Together a Salad: In all Shades of Green

I have a con­fes­sion to make. I am salad challenged.

In fact, if they ever pub­lish a cook­book called Sal­ads 101 – A Quick and Easy Guide to Salad Free­dom, I’ll be the first one in line to buy it. I don’t think it’s a Latin Amer­i­can thing, so maybe it’s a Colom­bian or regional chal­lenge? Or per­haps, ashamed as I am to admit it, maybe it’s just my family.

All I know for sure is, at home, sal­ads meant just four things: ice­berg let­tuce, sliced toma­toes, and pick­led onions or scal­lions. Oh, and a tomato vinai­grette! Period.

All of which means that I am prob­a­bly the last per­son who should have an opin­ion about sal­ads. But ever since I became a per­sonal chef, I’ve noticed that a lot of other peo­ple tend to be salad chal­lenged, too — that’s prob­a­bly why the infa­mous Cae­sar Salad is the #1 seller in all restau­rants in North Amer­ica. And since I can’t pre­pare sal­ads in advance for my clients (they don’t keep well for more than a few days), I’ve come up with a list of things every­one should always keep at hand that will help them put together a fresh, healthy and deli­cious salad in no time.

When toss­ing a salad, it all comes down to hav­ing lay­ers of tex­tures, colours and flavours. I pre­fer not to get too cre­ative, so three or four choices from these ingre­di­ents will usu­ally do wonders.

So if you’re salad chal­lenged like me, why not try throw­ing some of these together tonight, to add a lit­tle green to your family’s table? If you aren’t famil­iar with some of these ingre­di­ents, all the bet­ter. After all, try­ing some­thing new and find­ing out whether or not you like it is when the fun begins. Who knows — it might become your new fam­ily favourite.

Let’s start tossing!

Mix ‘n Match:

Leafy veg­eta­bles: arugula, dan­de­lion greens, endive, radic­chio or water­cress, cab­bage (red or green), col­lard greens or kale, let­tuce (such as but­ter­head, leaf or romaine), napa cab­bage, purslane, spinach, spring mix (note: buy them, wash and dry very well; store in a Ziploc bag with a paper towel — if you have to buy pre-washed greens, don’t for­get to check the best before date)

Herbs: pars­ley, rose­mary, basil, chervil, thyme, mar­jo­ram, oregano

“Fruit” veg­eta­bles: avo­ca­dos, olives, sweet pep­pers (red, orange or yel­low), toma­toes, win­ter squash, zuc­chini and other sum­mer squash (note: if you cut an avo­cado, don’t for­get to imme­di­ately brush it all over with a lit­tle lemon juice to stop it from browning)

Fruit fruits: wild berries and apples

Flow­er­ing veg­eta­bles: broc­coli, broc­coflower, broc­col­ini, cauliflower

Edi­ble pods and peas: green peas, snow peas, sugar snap peas

Herbs and veg­etable flow­ers: capers, arti­chokes, squash blos­soms, chives, chervil, chamomile

Onions: green onions, red or sweet white onion

Root veg­eta­bles, shred­ded: car­rots, beets, cele­riac, daikon, radishes, rutabaga, turnips, kohlrabi

Sprouts: alfalfa, broc­coli, radish or sun­flower, mung bean or lentil, quinoa

Stalk veg­eta­bles: aspara­gus tips, cel­ery, fennel

Tubers: Jerusalem arti­chokes, jicama, fin­ger­ling potatoes

Beans and legumes: any kind of bean, cooked at home if pos­si­ble or, if pressed by time, Eden Organ­ics BPA-Free Cans will do, soy beans, split peas, lentils, chickpeas

Rice and Grains: rice, wild rice, quinoa, bar­ley, mil­let, cous­cous, orzo (these last two, not tech­ni­cally grains, but hav­ing a per­son­al­ity dys­func­tion, act like one)

Crunchy Addi­tions: tofu or bread crou­tons, nuts and seeds: sun­flower, pump­kin or sesame, pine nuts, plain, soaked and dried – or roasted, sea greens, pan-fried or toasted

Dress­ings: Add your favourite dress­ings. If made with flaxseed or hempseed or their oils, the dress­ing is a rich source of omega 3 fatty acids. If made with avo­cado, olives, seeds or their oils, the dress­ing is a rich source of the pro­tec­tive antiox­i­dant vit­a­min E.

List adapted from Com­mon Ground, Feast your Eyes by Vesanto Melina

Share your tips — what’s your favourite salad?