Whole Living Daily

August 17, 2010

The Perfect Salad

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What makes a simple salad sublime?

  1. Clean, dry lettuce.  Submerge greens in a large bowl of water, swish them around, and drain. Repeat a few times to make sure that any dirt is removed. Spin in a salad spinner, and then gently pat dry with a clean kitchen towel.
  2. Seasoning. Season the entire salad with salt and pepper before dressing.  This ensures that all the components of the salad will be flavorful.
  3. A light hand when dressing. It really only takes a small amount of dressing to coat the leaves of a salad. Taste and adjust . . . and remember it is much easier to add more dressing than it is to salvage soggy greens.
  4. A good-sized bowl for tossing. Not even the best ingredients and careful seasoning can outfox a bowl that is not large enough to accommodate the salad. (Especially those takeout salad boxes.) If you often eat salads for lunch at the office, consider bringing in a mixing bowl from home for tossing.
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1 Drying the spinach completely.

2 Sliced radishes, scallions, fresh mint and chervil with the spinach.

3 Making the vinaigrette and seasoning the salad with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

4 Tossing the salad in a large mixing bowl.

Here’s a recipe for one of my favorite salad dressings:

Lemon Vinaigrette

Makes ½ cup

1             teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 1/2      teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

3             tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

6             tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

pinch of sugar

coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine mustard, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in olive oil until incorporated. Season with sugar, salt, and pepper.

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