Stop. Look around. The color green is everywhere. Trees, shrubs and lawns are springing all hues of green. Now’s the time to revel in all that greenery and add it to your dinner plate. Dieticians are always touting the importance of adding greens to our diets — important as antioxidants as well as fiber for the body. So add some greens and have fun in the process.
Salad lovers of all ages can benefit from a shakeup from their regular routine of lettuce and vegetables. With a little creativity and ingenuity, the nightly salad can be transformed into the star of the meal.
For starters, start with the obvious — the greens. Romaine and red and green leaf lettuces are a wonderful base, but why not try baby spinach, bibb, endive (a Belgium lettuce) or arugula? You could even scour specialty markets (or your yard, if you’re a diehard) for dandelion greens. Each offers a unique texture and taste. Experiment with different combinations to create your own salad specialty. Arugula, for instance, with its peppery quality, combined with shaved pecorino cheese, toasted pine nuts, and freshly squeezed lemon would surely be a salad to remember.
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The veggies — add what you like, leave out what you don’t. Radishes, cucumbers or chopped carrots? Thinly sliced red or green onions? Sliced fennel or artichoke hearts? The best part is there is no end to the possible combinations, and you’ll be sure to enjoy the outcome of all of your experiments.
Cheeses — nothing boring about adding fresh feta, crumbled gorgonzola, goat cheese or shaved romano to a salad. Go a step further and pair that with fresh or dried fruit (dried cranberries, dried fig or raisins, fresh strawberries, freshly sliced pear or apple for example) and you will be sure to delight the taste buds.
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Extras (aka the fun stuff). Nuts, such as pecans, walnuts, pine nuts, almonds, along with seeds, such as sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds, are the perfect finishing touch. Toast the nuts or seeds before adding to the salad to enhance their flavor.
The dressing. While we all have our favorites — either store bought or homemade — nothing quite beats the old standby of a good-quality olive oil and vinegar. Here, too, you can shake things up by trying infused olive oils and vinegars. Try balsamic vinegar infused with figs, for example, or puree fresh raspberries and add a drip of honey to your basic vinaigrette.
The bottom line — go green! Let your creativity and your imagination run wild and enjoy each and every salad.
