Big Green Salad – French Style
Hello and W E L C O M E to any new subscribers to my website! It really means the world to me that you value my recipes so much that you would actually pay for them!
I created the membership because I want my recipes and teaching to add value to your life in a way by way of helping you cook delicious food. When it comes to healthy food its not a this or that situation for me, off course nourishing and healthy food can be both delicious and also healthy.
We do need to know a few basics and knowing how to make a very basic but full of flavour salad is a skill – let’s get right down to it.
Green salad ‘rules’ – the basics
- interesting leaves (please no iceberg lettuce – only place fitting is in a prawn cocktail)
- it is actually all about the dressing.
- a good green salad will have a balance between crunch (nuts, seeds, leaves, celery), acidity (dressing, olives) and salty (capers, parmesan, blue cheese).
- adding fresh herbs uplifts any salad – dill, parsley and tarragon are classics.
- the leaves will release moisture once the acid from the dressing coats them, so (1) only dress the salad when you are ready to serve and (2) eat immediately.
Leaves
I grow my own salad here in my urban garden and have a selection of different colours and textures. Organic leaves are superior to shop bought in terms of flavour as most are grown outside in the sun. They are however delicate little things and are best stored in the bags they came with.
Supermarket leaves are off course 100% too, but they will be sprayed with chemicals to help with their longevity. We all have found the bag of leaves still pristine hanging around our fridge for weeks!
Storing salad leaves are best kept in the bags they came with. If you bought fresh organic heads, separate the leaves and add to ice cold water for 10 minutes, by then the leaves should be plumped and washed, spin well, add kitchen towel to the base of the container and keep the container closed. I have had this salad spinner for years (such a workhorse) and store my salad in this container.
Dressing
My top tip would be to make double of the dressing – that way a portion can be kept in the fridge ready to dress another salad.
Its actually all about the dressing which can be as basic as extra virgin olive oil, lemon, salt & pepper or blitzing yogurt with herbs and seasoning OR as extravagant as adding pomegranate molasses, miso, preserved lemons or harissa to the dressing.
Most dressings will have a:
- FAT – extra virgin olive oil is my main fat but you can use fancy oils too like hazelnut
- ACID – lemon juice or any variety of vinegars like balsamic or apple cider vinegar.
- MUSTARD – Dijon, wholegrain or English (its got a kick)
- SALT & PEPPER
Good things to add to a dressing are, small amount of honey, minced garlic and finely chopped herbs
How to dress a salad
- My no 1 rule would be to dress the salad from the base up, this means, I add half the dressing to the empty bowl and then add my leaves and things, toss well and either add the remaining dressing or serve on the side.
- THE KEY is to dress all the leaves well and the easiest way to do this is with your hands or large spoons.
How to assemble a salad
Most salad can be ‘built’ slightly ahead of time (max 30min). Simply start by adding the dressing, then the heavy salad ingredients (tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, celery etc) followed by the leaves. Store in the fridge ready to toss and mix when ready to serve.
Perfect Big Green Salad - My way
Ingredients
- 60 g walnuts
- 3 large celery sticks plus a few leaves
- 1 large butterhead lettuce leaves separated, broken into bite sized bits
- 75 g local good-quality blue cheese
French Dressing
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp English mustard
- 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
- salt & freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180c and toast the walnuts until lightly golden, 5/6 minutes. Alternatively you can toast the walnuts in a small frying pan over a medium heat. Roughly chop.
- Dressing: for ease I add my ingredients in a Nutribullet and whizz to emulsify more evenly (the honey always gets stuck to the bottom of the bowl). Alternatively whisk in a small bowl with a fork or shake vigorously in a jam jar with the lid screwed on tightly!
- Top and tail the celery, cut each stalk in half, and finely slice the celery along with few celery leaves if you have them.
- To assemble, add the leaves to a pretty bowl, add the celery and celery leaves, toasted walnuts and blue cheese.
- Add about 5 tbsp dressing to the salad and dress well by tossing with your hands the salad until all the leaves are gently covered with the dressing.
- Serve straight away with the remaining dressing on the side.
