More interesting salads?

Food/Drink/Culinaria
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We are living on salads in this hot weather and I’m getting bored with the lettuce/tomato/cucumber/avocado/French beans mix. Even coeur de boeuf tomatoes and mozzarella are losing their appeal.
So I’ve been digging out some that I used to do and had forgotten about:

Just had a Hugh F-W salad of warm roast butternut squash, grilled mushrooms, blue cheese and rocket.
Last night we had watermelon, feta cheese, basil and pumpkin seeds.
If I can find any, we’ll have raw beetroot and horseradish sauce tomorrow with bresaola.

We’re not eating much in this heat, so I’m looking for ideas for more interesting salads.

Any suggestions please?

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I do a big tabbouleh - chopped peppers, courgette, a bit of onion, sultanas because Madame - dressed with lemon juice, oregano and olive oil. It’s quite substantial, though.

I can’t find raw beetroot but it’s great shredded in salads.

I have a HF-W book somewhere in the unpacked books …

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I would put peppers, mushrooms, feta, parmigiana cheese in salads, but it’s hard to see them as more than a side dish - you have my sympathy.

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The fennel sale in this is delicious:

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I add chopped mint and chives to make salads a little more interesting, with a little preserved red onion and red pepper.

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Here’s a few suggestions

This is an old NY Times one that I’ve reworked for France and often get asked for - it’s perfect for now because good peaches and toms are everywhere. Despite US origin it’s proved popular with French people.

TOMATO AND PEACH SALAD WITH WHIPPED GOAT CHEESE

(Quantities for four)

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon sherry vinegar

1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard,

1 teaspoon fresh lemon zest, plus 2 teaspoons juice

Coarse-ish sea salt 5se de Camargue looks best) and black pepper (actually we use green, but that’s what we use all the time)

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

4 ounces soft goat cheese or feta – bouche de chevre a bit too bland and creamy – feta or a sharper tasting goat cheese is better

6 tablespoons crème d’Isigny from supermarché

To the above I added preserved lemon rind cut into strips

2 large heirloom (traditional varieties) tomatoes (about 14 ounces total), cored and cut into l inch wedges

2 medium peaches (about 12 ounces), halved, pitted and cut into 1/2-inch wedges

1 packed cup torn purslane, mache, or watercress (optional) Basil works well too

Confit a couple of 99 cent boxes of cherry tomatoes in olive oil and some chilli oil, when cooked add any or all of the following - marjoram or oregano, microplaned garlic, chopped anchovy fillets, capers, cornichons etc. Keeps well in the fridge and can be added to other things eg roasted aubergine fennel onions mushrooms - all these are good tossed in pomegranate molasses, chilli oil harissa or bulgogi sauce.

This evening mixed leftover breast from yesterday’s poached chicken with very gently melted sliced young leeks, yaourt de brébis and cancoilllotte d’ail seasoned with cayenne/poivre d’alep.

Another approach is to prepare batches of maybe half a dozen or more salad ingredients and combine them in different ways over several days 5learnt that from my brother who used to design salads for European supermarkets).

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Thai beef salad, amazing but a little bit of prep work massaging the beef into the cabbage. Sweet, sour, spicy and different.

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Frozen raw peas and pre-cooked green beans (I’m a huge fan of frozen vegetables, all year round): no cooking required, and a great excuse to pop into the supermarket’s frozen food aisle to cool off !

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Nothing too adventurous in our house but there’s always home made coleslaw in the fridge. It goes with most hot or cold foods (hot sausage rolls/grilled beefburger/hot or cold chicken). Then there’s red kidney beans/sweetcorn/finely chopped onion. Or the old standby salad nicoise. And of course, you mustn’t forget caesar salad. But the main things is that with any salad, it has to be freshly made.

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Yum ! Your brain is still working very well :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: !

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Where food is concerned, it never fails me!

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I use a lot of fruit in salads especially kiwis, avocado, apricots, nectarines, melons etc and with the dressing, adds a nice touch and some of the dry fried onions on top or sprinkled with brewers yeast. I rarely eat meat and then only chicken and that or prawns make up for the protein side of things in salads

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Small pieces of stem ginger in any salad adds a bit of variety and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar is almost obligatory for me.

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During Italian week at Lidl they do flavoured balsamic vinegars like orange and raspberry and they are actually not too bad on a salad for a change of flavour

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Later today we’re having salade d’agrumes aux crevettes. The fruit makes it very refreshing at times like this. I’ll try to remember to take a photo to show you (and remind myself exactly what’s in it).

It’s a starter but my brother-in-law makes a great carpaccio de Saint-Jacques where the scallops are marinated in the citrus juice, and then served with apples cut into matchsticks… Kinda like this recipe - Carpaccio de Saint-Jacques

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not a salad, but in this heat a very welcome cooling dish. We used to serve it with boiled beef (tafelspitz), but its also good with just boiled eggs, poached salmon (hot or cold) and potatoes… Herbs - the exact mix is a little hard to find, but using similar (not basil) the sauce is just as nice…

this is an american version, no onion or olive oil in the original… My mother would add a finely chopped hard boiled egg and never would use a blender. Herbs had to be chopped by hand.

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And as a substitute for salt, an addictive French speciality (which is readily available in all good supermarkets :slightly_smiling_face: ) :https://avogel.fr/epicerie-salee/1047-herbamarer-original.html

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I use that a lot.

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love this and you can add cucumber etc too