I genuinely would love to know! From here we create a natural starting point for information and guidance around salad, and its potential as a vibrant, flavourful instrument for daily health. If our perspective of salad is one of tasteless iceberg lettuce with a limp tomato diced up, we’re not going to enjoy salad, nor is it going to meaningfully contribute to our health.
If you see salad, like I do, as more of a very flexible canvas, full of herbs, many different types of leaves, seeds and vegetables, layered with creamy avocado and dressed well, you will start to love salad, and you will enjoy making it, too. By connecting to the beauty and art of making something, it helps us to view the task at hand differently.
Equally, we should connect to the practicality of making. I make my salads in one of two ways, depending on whether I’m eating alone or with others. When making salad for one, I usually select a big stainless steel mixing bowl. Lightweight, easy to lift (these attributes seem to matter greatly when I’m pushed for time or tired) and usually I eat straight out of the prep bowl. This also gives you some idea of the size of the salad. It’s big!
When eating with others, I make the salad on a platter, layering the leaves, sprinkling chopped herbs, adding all the vegetables and then drizzling over the dressing at the end.
When you are introducing new practices to improve your health, I believe that it’s ESSENTIAL to make your actions as delicious, practical and enjoyable as possible. Also social, make it social by preparing really generous salads that you can share with others.
Here’s my salad 101. What I make daily plus the dressing that goes with it:
Leaves and herbs + vege + creamy component + seeds/nuts + dressing = salad
Leaves: Leaves like cos or romaine mingle with the stronger flavours of land cress, sorrel, rocket or raddichio. Usually I mix varieties, sometimes I stick with one variety, depending on what i have. Loosely chop the leaves so they are a good size to prick with your fork and pop in your mouth.
Herbs: Mint, dill, basil, parsley etc. My salads are often one part herbs to one part actual salad leaves. For me, herbs bring salad up into the vibrant flavour big league. I love the surprise of munching on a giant frond of dill, all tangled up in parsley and crunchy cos.
Water based vege: Cucumber, radish, tomato, sweet peas, barely steamed broccoli - whatever you have on hand.
Creamy component: My personal must is avocado, but globs of goat cheese are a nice alternative.
Seeds or nuts: Toasted walnuts, sunflower seeds etc
Dressing: Each of us will have a different version that works for us. Mine is: Equal parts red or white wine vinegar to olive oil. A teaspoon of dijon mustard, few grinds of pepper, generous pinches of sea salt. Whisk together with a fork. Sometimes I’ll swap the vinegar for a lot of lemon/lime juice. Regardless, you should have a strong acidic component to make the dressing fly.
Introducing big salads into my lunchtime meal, and eating them as the main event, not as a side, has proven to be a great instrument in increasing how many plants I eat daily.
As always, we’re aiming for joy, ease and curiosity. These are my own personal baselines for health on a daily basis. Keep establishing, practising and noticing and I’ll see you back here next week!
Sophie’s Marketplace
A few bits and pieces I’m loving right now, maybe you will too.
Salad bowls. As I said further up, I love the lightness of a stainless steel mixing bowl if making salad for one. These ones from Frances Nation are made in Dunedin and come in several sizes, go large!
Poplin pjs. I was gifted some Tekla pyjama pants for my birthday and have shifted my deeply entrenched sleeping attire preference from oversized tee and knickers to proper PJ pants. These ones feel like you’re wearing crisp sheets, the waistband is perfect and I’ve noticed how soft the fabric is becoming after a few washes. Big fan!
In India, a common salad is merely tomato (chopped) onion (small, chopped), chopped green chilli, some salt and a touch of lime.
Sounds insanely delicious!