Kitchen

[MathisFan]

Always make sure your ingredients are dry. Especially tomatoes and greens. I always remove the seeds from the tomatoes and use a salad spinner for the greens. Nothing worse than a watery salad.

[nun ya]

fresh clean salad. I so dislike when I get salad that looks like it hasn't been washed.

[Vamp]

My personal favorite lately has been mixed greens + dried cherries or craisins + blue cheese + candied pecans + pears. If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, their Champagne Pear Vinaigrette dressing is superb with this salad! The dressing is in the produce section, not on the shelf, if you decide to look for it.

I also like a salad with warm roasted vegetables on top. Start with a bed of mixed greens + roasted vegetables + goat cheese + homemade vinaigrette. You can pick whatever vegetables you like to roast. Some of my favorites are fingerling potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, beets, carrots, & parsnips.

[ahoymate]

On 10/21/2014 house_cat said:

I need to make one for company this weekend and so often they are a huge snooze.

What's the key for making them interesting?

Thank you.

The secret to a great salad: Garden grown, freshly picked salad greens & homemade dressing. That's it! So simple, but so good. Fresh is the key.

[millieshops]

On 10/21/2014 RedHeadedWench said: Believe it or not, when I started adding a dash of salt and pepper in to the toss, my salads started tasting a lot better. A good mix of greens and veggies aren't a bad idea either.

Totally agree with you. Amazing what seasoning do, isn't it?

And, I don't take complaints about the small amount I use from anyone who then pours commercial salad dressing all over my colorful crisp salads instead of reaching for my own olive oil and vinegar concoction.

[Beebee2]

Prep and chill your veggies ahead of time if you can. Make sure the lettuce has been washed and is dry. I put mine in a salad spinner and keep it in a ziplock bag with paper towels.

If you're adding tomatoes, add them just before serving; otherwise their acid juices will wilt the lettuce. Sometimes I will seed the tomatoes to make sure tomato juice isn't part of the salad. I just cut the tomato in half, pole to pole or top to bottom, and use a grapefruit spoon or melon baller to remove the seeds and liquid. It really makes the salad a lot nicer in my opinion.

Also, because 'soupy' salads are not good, I took the advice from an old cookbook and just before serving I add the dressing sprinkled across the top of the salad once each direction, then I toss it as much as 30 times. What a difference this has made in my salads. It's my secret for making sure that all of it is covered with a scant amount of dressing and there's no 'pool' in the bottom of the bowl.

The quality of the ingredients and how they are treated is the most important aspect of salad making, imo.

[deb5555]

If you live by a subway restaurant, try their chopped salads, double the veges, Worth it!

[Iwantcoffee]

On 10/21/2014 Vamp said:

My personal favorite lately has been mixed greens + dried cherries or craisins + blue cheese + candied pecans + pears.

Tasty combo. I have not had this with pears but it would be a good addition.

[HonnyBrown]

On 10/21/2014 Poodlepet said: House Cat, saladsb-day salads- are my new found obsession. On page two of this forum, I started a topic about bistros salads. Honnybrown gave us a recipe for a savory dressing that is fantastic-I made it. All of these ideas are great, but if you think your guests are going to be persnickety about ingredients, consider creating a mini salad bar. You could have a little bowl of dried cranberries, another with nuts, red onion, a couple of the more pedestrian cheeses like cheddar or parmesan....have a great day, Poodlepet

I am so glad you like it!!!!!

It's so simple and basic, but good. I change it every time I make it.

[curlywhitedog]

For me, the best salads I ever eat are served at salad bars where there are lots of things to mix in. Pieces of broccoli, edaname, carrots, cheese, olives, stuffed grape leaves, seeds, bacon bits, croutons, bits of ham/ etc. In fact, I mostly just use the salad greens themselves as a bed for the rest of the stuff...top it all off with blue cheese dressing and I'm in heaven.

Maria