How to Make a Seasonal Salad

There is no secret to putting together a tasty and elegant seasonal salad that will delight your family any night of the week, and impress your guests on weekends. It is, essentially, nothing more than a thoughtful layering of seasonal ingredients and topping with a dressing to complement.

Not a day goes by that I can't assemble a pretty salad. It helps, I think, that I always keep a variety of fresh greens on hand, as well as an assortment of nuts (stored in the freezer to maintain freshness), a package or two of Melissa's French Country-Style Red Beets In Balsamic Vinaigrette, and have, in my repertoire, a variety of dressings both savory and sweet. If you get into the habit of doing the same, assembling a salad will become second nature. If making your own fresh dressing doesn't fit into your busy schedule, feel free to purchase two or three good ones. Many bottled dressings are excellent, with long shelf lives when properly stored in a cool pantry before opening, or a fridge thereafter.

Here is my method of assembly, from bottom to top:

Fresh greens (spinach, spring mix/mesclun, romaine, Boston, or red leaf lettuce)

Vegetable (beets, cucumber, mushrooms, red onion, peas, sprouts)

Fruit (use whatever is in season - melon, berries, orange slices, mango, apple, pomegranate seeds)

Cheese (feta, bleu, Gorgonzola, Parmesan)

Nuts (toasted pecans, toasted walnuts, toasted hazelnuts, peanuts, pepitas, sunflower seeds)

Simply select one or more item from each category, layer from the bottom up, and top with the dressing of your choice. Poppy seed and vinaigrette dressings are my favorites for this type of salad, but a creamier type such as ranch, Caesar, or creamy Italian work well too.

The salad pictured contains romaine lettuce, cubes of Athena melon, cubed beets, crumbled blue cheese, toasted walnuts, and poppy seed dressing. I store my salad dressings in icing bottles so that I can squeeze it onto the top of the salad in delicate little stripes. It is so easy, and quite impressive.

When you use this little formula for making salad it is easy to make one or ten by just lining up chilled plates and layering ingredients. Try it yourself, and be bold in choosing your layers. It is as much about fun as it is about experimentation and taste. 

This post is linked to:

Home and Garden Thursday

Full Plate Thursday

Friday Finds

Show and Tell Friday 

Friday Unfolded

Friday Frenzy
Fridays Flash Blog
Simple and Sweet Fridays

Foodie Friday & Everything Else

What To Do Weekend 
The Weekend re-Treat

Caesar Romero

We've all had our little mishaps in the kitchen: the soufflé that falls, the cake that doesn't rise, the previously made French Onion Soup stored in the freezer that falls to the floor when we go to retrieve it, splitting its storage container in two, wherein it flies out of said container, sliding across the floor like a hockey puck, only to end its journey in front of the dog's bed, the occupant of which, delighted with her luck, enthusiastically licks the onion-flavored Popsicle.  No?  Well, it's happened to me.

My recent setback was to mistake a full two-cup container of Kheer (Indian Rice Pudding) for a similarly stored container of Ranch Dressing, only to become painfully aware of my error as I readied to toss the salad to serve to a table full of waiting guests.  Frantic, I bolted to the refrigerator and pulled out the near empty container of actual Ranch Dressing, a packet of Caesar Salad Dressing leftover from a fast food restaurant, the dregs in a bottle of low-fat Italian dressing, and a spoonful or two of Green Goddess. I dumped it all into a medium mixing bowl, whisked it together with vigor, crossed my fingers, poured it over the salad, plated it, and served.

I held my breath as my guests began to eat. Then, mortified, accepted the compliments on this "delicious dressing."

"What kind is this?" someone asked.

Drawing a blank, the only thing I could think of was the discarded packet from which I'd squeezed the Caesar dressing. "Ummm," I dumbly replied (Think, girl, think!), "It's my own creation. I call it, errr, Caesar, ummm, Caesar Romero."

Thank goodness it was a youngish crowd who wasn't familiar with the late actor, although my youngest son, who was immediately on to me mouthed, "Didn't he play The Joker in Batman?"

Busted!

To make certain this never happened again, I now keep a container of homemade Ranch Dressing seasoning in the pantry.  You might be wise to do the same.

Ranch Style Dressing Mix

8 tablespoons dried parsley flakes

1 teaspoon dried dill weed

5-1/2 tablespoons instant minced onion

4 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Stir ingredients together and store in a cool, dry pace. To prepare, combine 2 tablespoons of the mix with 1cup buttermilk and 1cup mayonnaise. This will keep for six months.

This post is linked to: On the Menu Monday

Hearts of Palm Salad

I have gone palm crazy.  No, that is not a misprint.  I haven’t gone plumb crazy (despite what you may have heard), though when the season hits, I just may!  No, I have gone palm crazy, i.e. absolutely crazy for hearts of palm.  I hosted a small dinner over the weekend, and lacking enough ingredients to put into a satisfying side salad, went out on a limb (there were some picky eaters on hand), opened up a jar of Melissa’s Hearts of Palm, rinsed them and sliced coins directly into the salad.  Getting such a positive response, I decided to hunt for a recipe or two, or three…now FIVE that I wanted to try using this delicious ingredient.  The name alone brings to mind exotic locales, island breezes, and palm fronds swaying beneath a setting sun, so why not use them in as many dishes as possible?

Last night’s choice was a simple salad that I sprung on the mister to see what sort of a reaction I’d get.  He loved it!  Success!

Hearts of Palm Salad

1 14.8-ounce jar Melissa’s Hearts of Palm, drained and rinsed

1 large tomato (as it happens, from my garden!), seeded and chopped

1 garlic clove, finely diced

1 scallion, white and green parts, sliced on an angle into ¼” slices

2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, julienned

1-2 tablespoons Light Italian Dressing (I use Kraft Light Zesty Italian)

4 leaves of green leaf lettuce

Fresh Parmesan cheese, widely grated

Salt

Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Slice the hearts of palm into ½” wide slices, and place in a medium bowl.  Add the tomato, garlic, scallion, basil, and dressing, and toss lightly until well coated.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Refrigerate for 1-2 hours to allow flavors to blend.  Arrange leaf lettuce on four salad plates, top with salad mixture, and garnish with fresh shavings of Parmesan cheese and a sprig of fresh basil.

For more great salad ideas, I recommend this book:

This post is linked to:

On the Menu Monday

Totally Tasty Tuesdays

Try a New Recipe Tuesday

What's Cooking Wednesday

Foodie Friday

Sunday's Best Party

Lettuce Rejoice!

Week One: I planted the Salad Garden kit (Mesclun Spring Mix).  The seeds sprouted in two days.  Look at them grow!

I am so excited!  And if you like growing things as much as I do, then this little gadget is something that you must have.  I was lucky enough to get my AeroGarden as a gift from my son about four years ago and it has been producing ever since.  The price has dropped significantly since I first got mine, and there are a wider variety of sizes, shapes, colors, and seed kits from which to choose.  I always used to find myself a bit bereft when the cool fall weather would roll in, knowing that the growing season had pretty much come to an end.  Not anymore!  Now I grow a variety of lettuces, herbs, seasonings, and flowers indoors, all year round.  I don't represent the company in any way, I'm just an avid gardener who loves fresh herbs and lettuces, and thrills at seeing the first shoot come up from out of its little seed pod.

Week Two: This picture was taken last week. I have since harvested lettuces daily and still can't keep up with the amount we're getting. Alas, I don' t have enough room in my kitchen for this, so it's in the guest room.

 Week Three: I had to move the Aerogarden from the guest room into my studio in order to be able to raise the light two notches to accommodate the lettuce's rapid growth this past week.  Isn't it gorgeous?

With the holiday season coming up, you just might mention this to Santa.  It really is a lot of fun and, I'd think kids would find it particularly interesting just watching how food grows and harvesting it themselves, rain, or snow, or shine!

Click on any of these seed kits for more information, and get growing!

This post is linked to:

Metamorphosis Monday, This Week in My Garden

Tuesday Garden Party

TACO SALAD

With two days in a row of near ninety-degree heat, it would appear that the sultry salad days of summer are upon us.  I can't say I'm displeased by this. I love a good salad, the ease of assembly high up on the list.  A salad is something that can be simple or complex, sweet or savory, hearty and satisfying, or act as a light side.  Salads can be ethnic: the French Nicoise, the Greek Salad, Italian salad, or as in what I'm sharing today, Mexican Taco Salad.

For the most part I think all salads are relatively easy to make, it's really all in the decision-making process and assembly.  As in all salad cases, I use what I have on hand that is appropriate to the type of salad I'm making. I don't have a specific recipe for making Taco Salads, per se, but here is the general list of ingredients in the order of how they are layered on each individual plate.  I like to serve them on colorful Fiestaware plates atop a table covering with a Mexican theme.  What you see peaking out here is one I made from fabric by Alexander Henry called Frida's Garden.

TACO SALAD

Tortilla chips for base

Lettuces (romaine, head, butter crunch varieties)

Taco meat or chili (I prefer the latter)

Cubed avocado

Sliced black olives

Shredded Cheese

Salsa (your choice of brand and heat intensity)

Dollop of sour cream

Sliced scallions

Drizzle with ranch dressing

Crumbled Fritos give the top a bit of extra crunch and flavor, so I use these when I have them on hand.

Much of this, if not all can be prepared ahead, so these go together in no time.  Try one, and take the night off.


This is linked to Seasonal Sunday

THE COBB SALAD

The Cobb salad (Not to be confused with "The Big Salad"* the 88th episode (2nd episode; 6th season) of Seinfeld that originally aired on September 29, 1994.), invented in the 1930's at the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant is named for the restaurant's owner, Robert Howard Cobb.  A main-dish salad, its major components are chopped salad greens, tomato, crispy bacon, chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, chives, and Roquefort cheese.  Variations of the salad are served in restaurants worldwide (I personally add large-dice cucumber), but to me if there is no avocado, then it's not a Cobb Salad.  I think the Cobb Salad is one of the prettiest to serve.  One of the things I particularly like about it is the artistry involved in putting it together.  Here I've done it rather simply so you can see each ingredient, but in the past I've placed them in circles, swirls, and wedges.  We used Bamboo flatware to eat this one, which added to the fun!

All of the lettuce is from my AEROGARDEN. I used three varieties here: red leaf, romaine, and butter crunch.

It's week THREE! I had to move the Aerogarden from the guest room into my studio in order to be able to raise the light two notches to accommodate the lettuce's rapid growth this past week. (There will be a future blog post about this.)

This is linked to:

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*Elaine must find a special mechanical pencil, the Rolamech 1000, for her boss, Mr. Pitt (Ian Abercrombie) and soon finds herself dealing with the romantic advances of the stationery store clerk (Jerry Levine). The clerk asks for her telephone number to call her when he receives the pencil but Elaine gives him Jerry's number instead. At Elaine's request, George purchases a "big salad" for her from Monk's. But his girlfriend Julie (Michelle Forbes) appears to take credit for the purchase when she hands Elaine the salad in Jerry's apartment. George is displeased over the fact that Elaine thanked Julie for buying the salad, and casually mentions to Elaine that he was responsible for the purchase. George's revelation eventually leads to a rift between him and Julie when the truth comes out, but she simply justifies her actions by saying, "George, all I did was hand someone a bag." Semi-humiliated, George vows never to buy Elaine lunch ever again. Jerry learns that his current girlfriend, Margaret (Marita Geraghty), formerly dated Newman, who ended the relationship. Jerry cannot comprehend why Newman dumped someone so clearly "out of his league" in terms of beauty, so he attempts to find any fault in his girlfriend. Kramer plays golf with an ex-Major League Baseball player, who washes his ball on the second shot (not on the green), breaking the rules and causing an altercation with Kramer.The man is later suspected in the murder of a dry cleaner, and Kramer helps the man to see his pet fish by driving in his white Ford Bronco in a low speed chase down the New Jersey Turnpike.  (from Wikipedia)