NO MORE SOGGY SALADS

What could be worse than a soggy salad drenched with dressing?  Especially when it’s served in an upscale restaurant.  Any chef who can’t serve a good salad isn’t worth his salt.

At home, the bane of crisp salads are bottled dressings, with a mixture of  the oil and vinegar poured over the poor, unsuspecting  greens.   When tossing a good salad, you must add the oil and vinegar separately.  There’s an Italian saying that  when dressing  a salad, you need  a miser to add vinegar, a judge to add salt, and a spendthrift to add oil. 

Many chefs will tell you to add first the vinegar, then the oil, but I prefer the Italian way of tossing a couple teaspoons of oil on my individual dinner salad, putting it in the fridge while we have a glass of wine, then tossing again with  a teaspoon of  vinegar and just before adding salt  My salad is always crisp, fresh and green. If you’re serving extra people, just remember that you want twice as much oil  as vinegar.  My husband is on a soft diet, so he enjoys his canned fruit while I relish my green salad.

While most people prefer using  olive oil, I like walnut oil for it’s nutty flavor.  My special vinegar, stored in a separate jar, is doctored up with a variety of herbs and spices—basil, oregano, chopped garlic, curry, paprika and anything else that looks interesting. You might add a tablespoon of brown sugar to smooth out the tartness.  A jar of this seasoned vinegar usually lasts a month.  Plain vinegar will do as a base, but a bit of red wine or balsamic vinegar will perk up the  flavor.

And now, the lettuce.  A mixture of different lettuces like leaf, arugula and romaine is fine, but that can get expensive if you end up with a lot of unused wilted lettuce.  I normally buy romaine hearts and chop them up myself, although there’s been a scare about romaine lately.  Red and green leaf lettuce is just as good.  A few tomatoes and maybe some grated carrots , radishes, or cucumbers  will add color and texture, but they say no good green salad will have more than three added ingredients.

If you decide to make your own salad dressing,  you will no longer have numerous bottles of store bought dressing taking up room in your refrigerator.  All you need  is a bottle  of vinegar, a can of oil, and herbs from your kitchen shelves.   And think of the money you’ll save.

Celebrate Earth Day with a delicious salad!  🌍