I’m known in my inner circle as being somewhat of a salad expert.
Ok, maybe I’m giving myself too much credit by calling myself an “expert,” but more than one of the people closest to me whom I cook for have often raved about and requested that I be on salad duty for many a meal.
I figured it was time I shared some of my expertise here.
As we rolled into January 2024, I found my refrigerator full of vegetables, leftovers, lettuces, and more, resulting in many a salad consumed by yours truly over the course of the last week.
The salads I’ve made have all been variations of the same thing, with slight tweaks, due to the fact that I wanted to use the items I had in my fridge…and that, after an expensive December, I wished to save a bit of money by not running to the store for anything.
The below list contains suggestions from me to make your salad really good. No real tricks or anything, just things I try to do to make it a little more interesting, the star of the show instead of the side, and something that doesn’t make me bored when I think about eating salad most days.
The base. The main ingredient. That is to say, the lettuce or the grain or the vegetable that you might have the most of, although, there doesn’t have to be a MAIN base. It could be many things. A variety of lettuces. Beans. Rice. Pasta. Roasted vegetables. Cucumbers. Tomatoes. You get the idea. This week, I had a lot of lettuces and used them as my foundation.
Texture. I think every salad needs something crunchy to help give it some life. My favorite? Seeds. I almost always throw toasted sesame seeds into my salad or toast pepitas and sunflower seeds for a bit of nuttiness and crunch.
Creaminess. I tend to use a lot of crumbly cheeses, like feta or cotija, but creaminess could also come from the dressing (tahini or sour cream) or an avocado or a hard boiled egg (yea, weird that I’m considering a hard boiled egg “creamy",” but I do).
Acid. This could come from the dressing in the form of vinegar or lemon juice, but it could also be in some pickled vegetables that you throw in (think pickled red onions or gherkins or pepperoncini). Or maybe your base is oranges (all hail citrus season)…but honestly, oranges are more sweet than acidic, so forget I mentioned that.
Got vegetables that are going soft or limp? Give them new life by shaving them and throwing them into a bowl of ice water for at least an hour. They’ll get super crunchy and be very nice in salad, I promise.
Use your hands to toss it…just make sure to wash your hands first, dang it. I honestly get a little embarrassed when friends are over and I’m making salad and I use my hands to toss it. I feel like they might be weirded out (and maybe you are, too, right now, reading this), but using your hands allows you to be a bit more delicate while also taking care that everything gets coated evenly.
Make a big batch of dressing (unless you’re buying it! which is fine!). My salad dressing usually has Dijon and red wine vinegar and olive oil and salt and pepper, and sometimes miso or tahini or lemon juice. My secret though? I generally still season my entire salad with salt and pepper, plus a drizzle of olive oil, in addition to the dressing.
Croutons. I don’t always add bread to my salad, but when I have a really good loaf (like the bread from my friend Nora’s bakery, Mel), I slice it and cook it in a cast iron skillet with butter and olive oil, then season it lightly with a bit of kosher salt and tear it into pieces and add it to my salad and DANG, I JUST WON SALAD OF THE YEAR. Toasting bread for croutons in a skillet with butter and olive oil is so much better than toasting bread in a toaster or oven.
Get creative. Bored of your leftovers? Give them new life by making them into a salad (roasted vegetables and meat tossed with a vinegary dressing and a cooked grain!…this doesn’t work with everything, if we’re being honest, but I tried).
How do you salad? Comment below! And let me know what recipes and newsletters and videos you’d like to see in 2024.
Thanks, as always, for being here.
Listen to Farideh - BEST salads EVER!
And, yes, bread toasted in the pan is definitely better! I still use the toaster, but when she's home and does it in the pan, there is definitely a difference! Adding a crunch is awesome! And she makes it all look so easy!
This is one of my faves.