If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that salad is a pretty big deal in the Love Audrey household. As I mentioned in this post about our eating habits, I strive to serve something raw with every meal. Even if it’s just a simple plate of chopped veg, it’s very rare for food to appear at our dinner table without some kind of leafy accompaniment.
My full-blown obsession with salads started just over a year ago. In this new series of blog posts, I want to share a little of what I’ve learned, a few of my favourite combinations and hopefully a handful of ideas that will inspire you to eat more salad too.
To kick things off, I’m covering the basics. Equipment, ingredients and some inspiration to get your taste buds going.
- Equipment
Obviously, all you really need to make a pretty mean salad is a sharp knife, a chopping board, and maybe a box grater if you’re feeling fancy. However, there are few items of kitchenalia that I think make it even easier to up your salad intake. I wouldn’t call any of this essential, but it’s definitely nice to have.
I chop and slice a large proportion of ingredients using my Magimix Le Mini Plus. Any food processor with a slicing/grating disk will significantly reduce the time you spend putting a salad together. Personally, I wouldn’t be without a proper lemon zester*, my Royal VKB Garlic Crusher* and my KitchenArt PRO Adjustable Measuring Spoons*. All of the above are great additions to your kitchen arsenal regardless of whether you use them for making salad or not.
I serve my salads either in a large shallow bowl or laid out on a huge platter. We were kindly given the Denby Azure Coast Serving Bowl and Oval Platter as wedding presents over three years ago and I use one or the other almost every single day.
- Ingredients
In an average week, I would say I spend roughly 25% of our food budget on fruit and vegetables. Not everything is destined to end up in a salad, but a large proportion of it does. When salad became a key part of my meal plan rather than merely an afterthought, it no longer felt unusual to spend money on ingredients I love.
As I began to experiment with different recipes, I quickly realised that the typical combination of limp leaves and a few tomatoes isn’t really where it’s at. Crunch is key, so crisper ingredients tend to form the basis of most of my salads. Not only do things like carrots, cabbage, kale, celery and fennel last longer in the fridge, they’re much more satisfying to eat. Hard fruits such as apples and pears are also great and I’ve even been known to grate a brocoli stalk into my salad bowl.
When buying more traditional leafy salad ingredients, I’m looking for two things in particular; longevity and taste. Varieties with tightly packed leaves such as romaine lettuces, little gems and the ubiquitous iceberg last really well. I buy a bag of rocket every week and I love watercress, spinach, chicory and pea shoots for adding flavour and interest.
Tomatoes, avocado, parmesan and fresh herbs like mint, basil and coriander also feature heavily in my repertoire. Garlic, shallot and red onion really pack a punch and citrus flavours like lemon and lime can often elevate a simple salad to something truly spectacular. You probably need to play around with flavours and combinations until you stumble across a few favourites, but more on this in another post.
I don’t make dressings in the traditional sense, preferring to take a more deconstructed approach. Mixing up something separately seems like a unnecassary step when I can simply give a large bowl or platter of salad 2 tbsp of olive oil and 2 tbsp of vinegar before tossing and seasoning well.
For this reason, I always keep a good bottle of olive oil to hand along with a small selection of vinegar. These can be purchased very cheaply from the supermarket and having a few to choose from gives you the freedom to experiment. My basic supply consists of red wine, white wine, cider and balsamic vinegar. Soy Sauce is also great with other Asian flavours like coriander and lime.
- Inspiration
I’m slowly filling the Salad Days Pinterest board with some of my favourite recipes and ideas from around the web. I refer to Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals* constantly as it’s packed with incredible combinations I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. Leon: Ingredients and Recipes* has a great chapter on salads too. In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing some of the salads I make on a regular basis and suggesting other variations you can try at home.
Do you have a favourite salad combo you think I should try or is your diet severely lacking in fruit and veg?
Love Audrey xxx
*This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.
Lovely post – am also a salad freak! Recently I’ve been doing a spin on Salade Nicoise, using kale instead of lettuce (wash, dry, massage with olive oil for 5-8 minutes and the leaves go beautifully soft and dark; get rid of the stems first though).
I also love thinly sliced fennel dressed in oil, lemon juice and black pepper.
Another good one is beetroot, red apple, caramelized red onions and fresh parsley.
xxx
Thank you! I’m obsessed with massaging kale {that sounds wrong}, but had never thought of using it in a Nicoise Salad. Sounds delicous.
I already do a twist on your fennel suggestion. I slice it finely in the magimix with celery heart, fresh mint and a whole deseeded lemon. Little olive oil and black pepper and it’s good to go. Great the following day in a wrap with…. fish fingers, believe it or not!
I adore beetroot salad, so I’ll definitely give your combo a whirl.
xxx
I love salad/veg but I am not particularly gifted in the kitchen so really looking forward to this. Tomatoes hurt the top of my mouth though – bizarre! x
They’re quite acidic, aren’t they? When Jesse was a baby, the skin around his mouth would get red and sore every time he ate them. My husband doesn’t actually eat tomatoes, so there’ll be plenty of ideas that don’t involve them! He’s pretty good at picking them out when I do use them though!
xxx
I actually love vegetables, but oh goodness, I am not a salad lover. As you pointed out though, Franky, crunch is key. If a salad has crunch and a bit of liveliness, then I actually do like it. But a pile of Spring Mix or Mesclun on its own does absolutely nothing for me. For some reason I know a lot of Canadians that think that’s all you have to do for salad – open a bag of papery leaves and that’s it. I’m hoping your series will give me some inspiration!
I love salad and have tried to adopt the same approach with most meals – even if it’s just shredded and dressed carrot! One thing I’d like to do is incorporate more pulses into salads and would love some tried &tested recipes – big bowlfuls of vinegary lentils or chickpeas of the kind that are served at the arty training courses I go to
I love the idea of grating broccoli stalk into a salad- I always wonder what to do with them and find it wasteful to throw them out!
My go-to salad is a mixture of leaves, cherry tomatoes, olives and a few big chunks of creamy home-made labneh (which I make myself) with a drizzle of really good, thick, rich balsamic vinegar. I have this for lunch most days and never get sick of it.
I’ve been a long time silent reader of your blog. Today, on the train back home after reading your latest post(which has definitely inspired me to pick up more vegetables on my next grocery run), I went back through some of the older posts and I realized how long I’ve been reading your blog and how much its influenced me. May it be your affinity for red lipsticks, your praise for nigella cookbooks or the peeks into your weekends, I’ve enjoyed reading your blog through the years and just thought I should thank you for giving me so many lovely things to read
Deborah, this comment has made my day! Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to leave such kind words and for being such a loyal reader. xxx
I love these ideas – since having my baby I’ve realised I need more fruit and veg in my diet. I was good at hiding it in dishes, but now we always have veg or salad on the side as well. But I’ve got to admit my salad repertoire is severely limited so I’m really excited about this series. I love a good coleslaw for exactly the reasons you mention – longevity, crunch and I can make it with the food processor!
Thanks Katie, I hope you find the series useful. I have a real weakness for coleslaw, especially homemade! xxx
I love salads! I’m trying to eat more of them at the moment, so looking forward to seeing your recipes
I’m a big fan of baby spinach as a salad base. It’s probably the leaf I reach for most in the supermarket. Avocado, red, orange and yellow peppers, and tomatoes are also staples. My fave slightly odd ingredient is actually berries! Avocado, spinach and blueberry with parmesan and some cooked chicken is delicious
Little Miss Katy | UK Lifestyle Blog
That avocado, spinach and blueberry combo sounds amazing, thanks for sharing!
xxx