‘Salad days’ is a literary metaphor but I must admit I much prefer the literal meaning. When the fickle British summer makes an appearance, it is the salad time for me. Who would want soup? Unless it’s gazpacho.
Salad wasn’t born yesterday: the concept of combining raw ingredients in a refreshing dish can be traced to ancient civilizations such as the Babylonians, Egyptians and Romans. The word "salad" itself comes from the Latin word "sal" meaning salt, referring to the practice of salting leafy greens. So it would appear that the only wrong kind of salad is a fruit salad served for dessert!
Here's a good selection of excellent salads, from meaty Thai beef to dainty citrus and radicchio.
A year-round classic first, but a chicken Caesar is a particularly good summer solution. It’s an easy to follow salad recipe using leftover roast chicken. Dressing is made from scratch though, as are croutons, and I always make what seems too many: they mysteriously vanish before the salad is assembled.
If you get perfectly ripe tomatoes and sweet figs, you’re in for a treat: this tomato and fig salad with crumbled blue cheese and balsamic dressing is an unexpectedly fine combination. Sweet figs and ripe tomatoes with a salty tang of blue cheese make up an incredible burst of flavours.
It’s a spin off BLT without bread or tomato: bacon, lettuce and blue cheese, a salad perfect for a light lunch. Meaty, robust lettuce is required here, and the dressing is made from the fat rendered while crispening bacon.
Lettuce, bacon and blue cheese
RECIPE
Ordinary couscous is a bit boring but this variety is more impressive. Giant couscous makes a great salad with tomatoes, roasted peppers and feta cheese. And you can serve it either warm or cold.
In my books a perfect salad should include these four elements: the wholesome, the sweet, the salty and the crunch. Here grilled halloumi and roasted parsnips are wholesome, pear provides sweetness and salty pumpkin seeds give it the saltiness and the crunch.
Pear, pumpkin and halloumi
RECIPE
The crispy garlic and the crunchy seed and nut topping alone make this recipe worth trying! Incidentally, the seed and nut topping is recommended to be prepared in large quantities because it’s one of the most moreish things in the world. Avocado and red kidney bean salad give it substance, so this salad is fit for a main course.
Avocado and red bean salad
RECIPE
‘What to do with all those courgettes’ is the annual question amongst garden and allotment growers, because they are prolific and always abundant. No cooking required: raw courgette ribbons are marinated with lemon and tossed with raisins, almonds, pistachios and nori flakes creating a gorgeous salad. Also, made with a vegetable peeler.
This one is beautifully unconventional: pork mince in a salad? Yes: it’s not just fit for meatballs, you know. Fried and heavily seasoned good quality pork mince eventually turns into delicious crispy crumbs. Scattered over kidney beans and Romaine lettuce, with mixed toasted seeds, it’s delicious. Caramelised pork crumbs are the best thing since crispy bacon!
It’s a little old fashioned, but this simple combo of good smoked salmon and slices of cold ripe melon is the true taste of summer. Dressed with a drizzle of balsamic dressing and some fresh mint leaves, it’s a simple and exquisite starter or lunch.
Smoked salmon and melon
RECIPE
My absolute favourite in this list: Thai beef salad made with finely sliced, quickly seared bavette steak, aka flank or skirt. It’s a cheap cut but as good as any more expensive if handled correctly (i.e. cooked medium rare). Perfectly flavoursome beef on a bed of crunchy vegetables, with classic Thai dressing makes a delightful dish.
I simply won’t have a barbecue without potato salad. It’s obligatory in all of my al fresco cookouts. This one is called ‘spring potato salad’ because it’s fresh and light, best made with the first new potatoes. Radish, gherkins and very light mayo dressing – it’s the taste and flavour of a summer barbecue even in midwinter.
It is very difficult to get hold of proper green papaya, not just an underripe ordinary papaya, in the UK. But the concept works even with the latter. Green papaya salad with sweet and sour dressing is crunchy, juicy and incredibly full of goodness. Plus, it helps digest meat!
Another very fitting option for a barbecue side dish: fresh cucumbers with cumin tahini dressing, sprinkled with extra sesame seeds. The cucumbers are crunchy, juicy and wonderfully refreshing. Try them as a side for beef burger patties.
Cucumbers with cumin tahini
RECIPE
Bang bang chicken made the authentic way is poached, shredded chicken served with crunchy vegetables and a mind-blowing peanut butter sauce. The banging element in the name refers to the way the chicken is shredded: by whacking it with a mallet or a rolling pin.
Watermelon and feta salad is the simplest summery perfection, the salty-sweet combo in the most refreshing form. Don’t buy the plastic tubs with sad, prepared watermelon cubes: whole or half a watermelon is really easy to prepare and much better value.
Mixed green salad with strawberries, the freshest and most vibrant summer side dish is like Pimm’s without the liquor. Cucumber, strawberries and mint on the bed of shredded lettuce need only excellent balsamic and olive oil and a showering of black pepper.
Green salad with strawberries
RECIPE
This one is wholesome and filling, you might even think a little too filling for a summer day. But it’s such a delicious combo! Roasted sweet potato chunks, green or puy lentils cooked from scratch are drenched with super flavoursome dressing made with sage leaves and brown butter. With crumbled blue or goats cheese on top, optionally.
Brown butter lentils and sweet potoato
RECIPE
I know, I know – citrus fruit is a winter seasonal produce. But make this one exception because this salad is bursting with vibrant flavours and is deliciously refreshing on a summer day. Peeled and sliced blood or regular oranges, grapefruits, and zesty radicchio, this bitter sweet symphony is perfect for a light lunch or as a colourful side at dinner. Also, rich in vitamins and antioxidants!
Citrus and radicchio salad
RECIPE
Roasted beetroot with preserved lemons and tahini flavoured yoghurt has all the hallmarks of an Ottolenghi recipe and rightly so: it comes from the 'Simple' cookbook. Make it with new season beetroots, they’ll roast quicker and will be super flavoursome.
Roasted beetroot with tahini yoghurt
RECIPE
Pearled spelt and cannellini bean salad with rose harissa dressing is a delicious lunch option, convenient if you prepare the ingredients, store them in the fridge and mix just before serving. It’s a recipe for a healthy, filling and delicious meal.
Spelt and bean salad with harissa
RECIPE