With barbecue season in full swing, this month I thought I’d suggest some tips on making a great salad. I’ve also included an example of a salad I’ve made using the tips below – Heather x
The key for any good salad is to layer the salad with flavours and textures. If you try and hit the main areas mentioned below, it will transform your average, lettuce-heavy, empty-flavoured dish to a delicious and complex accompaniment that will stand up to the strong flavours on the barbecue.
Creamy/fatty
This is usually in the form of a dressing, but it could be avocado too. Cheese can also help here.
Bitter
Usually some fresh rocket leaves or kale helps, you don’t need too much of this.
Sharp
A squeeze of lemon or lime juice, or perhaps some pomegranate seeds or orange pieces. You can also include pickled items here too, like pickled radishes or onion.
Tangy
Use some feta cheese or sour cream/yoghurt in the dressing
Crunchy
Add some croutons, carrots, sweetcorn or roasted nuts (a lovely sprinkle of hazelnuts or cashews really help make a salad sing)
Salty/Umami
Consider sardines or tuna, soy sauce, or even roasted tomato halves
Sweet
This might be chopped dates or roasted sweet potato. You can also try some fruit: peaches often work well
Fresh
This is your traditional salad ingredients – your chosen lettuce (whether that’s iceberg, Romaine or Little Gem), cucumber, bell peppers and peas.
Earthy
Roasted vegetables, especially root vegetables, work well. A traditional UK option is beetroot, but be adventurous by trying other root veg like carrots.
Grains/pasta/beans/pulses can make up the base of the salad: do experiment with options that have a flavour of their own, such as cooked lentils or wild rice.
Heather’s salad for barbecue
Ingredients
No need for measurements here because it’s a very relaxed dish – just use roughly equal amounts of the above ingredients.
- Cucumber
- Sweet peppers
- Rocket leaves
- Dates
- Pomegranate seeds
- Cashews
- Feta cheese
- Sweet potato
Method
Peel, chop and roast the sweet potato in a little oil in a hot oven, probably 180º fan, for about 25 minutes until soft but still holding shape.
Roast the cashews for a couple of minutes in a hot dry pan until golden, just to enhance the flavour.
Then it’s just chop everything up and mix in a big bowl until you are happy. You could also add wild rice if wanted to make it more substantial.
I added the feta cheese for both the creaminess and the tang!
