Back in May, I discussed how to make dressing – the most low stakes item you could make. Today, I’d like to talk about what you should put that dressing on. I showed you a wedge salad and provided recipes for both a spinach salad and a green salad.

Green Salads

Let’s start by thinking about what makes a great green salad. A great salad should be colorful, have a variety of textures and a balance of flavors: salty, sweet, sour, bitter and savory or umami. Think about the classic salads like a Caesar salad or a spinach salad or a Greek salad. The Caesar has the green of the lettuce, the crunch of the croutons and the creamy dressing. The anchovies and parmesan add a touch of salt and savory. The spinach salad has crispy lettuce, soft eggs and crunchy bacon. Both the mushrooms and bacon add umami. The Greek salad is colorful and gives a wide variety of tastes with the salty feta, lettuce, onions, and oily and slightly bitter olives.

I think the green salad recipe I gave you in the salad dressing post is a nice template for a good salad. It has the green and dull red lettuce and the bright, sweet cherry tomatoes. The pine nuts add some crunch and the dressing is a touch sour from the lemon.

Keep these things in mind as you make a green salad. I like to use a mix of lettuces. Adding radicchio adds a pronounced touch of bitterness. To counter that, I often add dried fruit – raisins, dried cherries, or dried cranberries, even sun-dried tomatoes. I also like to play around with crunchy elements like nuts or roasted chickpeas (Drain a can and toss with olive oil and spices. Bake in a 400 degree oven until crispy, about 20-30 minutes stirring half way through.) Add shredded carrots, jarred roasted red peppers, or halved cherry or grape tomatoes for a hint of sweetness. I also sometimes add roasted veggies like artichokes or Brussels sprouts. Pickled vegetables work well, I like pickled mushrooms or grapes or cherries.

Salad Add-ins

If you want your salad to be a main dish, add roasted chicken or grilled salmon. If you toss in apples, celery and walnuts, it is reminiscent of a Waldorf salad. Capers and olives have a nice briny taste. Add jalapenos, seasoned ground meat and crushed tortilla chips for a taco salad. Cheeses like Parmesan, cheddar and feta all add a bit of umami to the salad. Using a balance of flavors makes you want to take another bite.

Now that you have all these items, stop a moment and edit. The salad I gave you in the dressing post has one element for bitter (lettuce), one for sweet (tomato), one for umami (Parmesan), and one for sour (dressing). It is pretty minimal. A good salad shouldn’t be something of everything you have in the fridge. I don’t like Cobb salad for this reason. The Greek and chef’s salad are pushing it for me. Just too much stuff. Your line will be different. You should experiment to find it.

Salads aren’t limited to various lettuce concoctions, of course. Here are two more possibilities.

Salmon salad

This salmon salad is inspired by “Eat This Not That” grilled salmon salad. It uses grilled salmon, red onions, and cherry tomatoes, green beans or asparagus (or both, why not), capers, and I add a hard boiled egg.

Salmon Salad

First, slice a few red onions and put it in some red wine vinegar. Both red onions and shallots benefit from being soaked in vinegar. It mellows them out. Grill the salmon and either green beans or asparagus. Add a little dijon mustard to the red wine vinegar and onions and whisk. Add salt and pepper to taste. When the salmon and vegetables are done; chop. Add a little extra virgin olive oil to red wine vinegar and whisk. Then add the salmon and grilled vegetables. Lastly, add a few cherry or grape tomatoes and a sliced hard boiled egg and toss. This salad is just as good cold, so I make at least two servings and set some aside to take for lunch.

Roasted Vegetable Salad

I also like to make roasted vegetable salads. Again, this is something I actually make more than one serving. Roasted veggies are good both hot and cold, so I eat one serving hot as dinner and take the second serving to work for a lunch. You could also toss in a green salad. Paired with a crusty bread, cheese and a good wine, this is a satisfying summer dinner.

Roasting Veggies

I’m always interested in what everyone else is making. Here are two that intrigued me (if I missed including your salad, I apologize).

Check out Timeloose’s Soba Noodle Salad

He uses soba noodles, shredded cabbage, carrots, scallions, red peppers and snow peas and dresses it with a peanut butter dressing made of peanut butter, soy sauce, siracha and vinegar. It’s been added to my rotation. I am in love with this. It offers so many possibilities for experimentation. It’s delicious, as is, but, of course, I can’t resist experimenting with it. So far, I have added leftover pork to the noodles and garlic and fresh grated ginger to the dressing.

Western Sloper’s Simple Summer Salad uses peeled and sliced cucumbers, halved cherry tomatoes, red onion, kosher salt, olive oil and sumac. Serve chilled. I’m going to have to go to the middle eastern market and see if I can find sumac. I’ve never tried it before. I recommend salting the onion before mixing in the rest of the ingredients. It will have a similar effect to soaking it in vinegar and remove some of the harshness.

What are your favorite salads?