Super Simple Salad Recipe

This super simple salad recipe can be whipped up[ in no time and is a colorful addition to your lunch or dinner. Kids also love it due to the sweet elements of the dried and fresh fruit. Knowing how to make a super simple salad quickly and well is a great skill. It adds colour to your table and nutritionally speaking adding fresh greens and vegetables into your diet is a great idea.

Play Video about The Farming Chefs - Salad episode

Super Simple Salad Recipe

The format for any good salad is the right balance of these 4 elements: fat-sour-salt-crisp! This super simple salad recipe will not disappoint you.

Serves:

4-6 people

Time to Prepare:

30 min

Time to cook or cure:

–

Serves:

Emulsion

Serves:

4-6 people

Time to Prepare:

30 min

Time to cook or cure:

–

Skills:

Emulsion

Watch it step by step

Play Video

Ingredients

For the dressing (makes 300 ml or two cups)

2 cloves of Garlic
70 ml (1/3 cup) of Apple Vinegar
Juice of 1 Lemon
1 tbs dijon Mustard
2.5 tbsp Honey
200 ml (4/5 cup)Olive Oil (extra virgin)
2 tsp of Salt
Pepper (optional)
2 tbsp Fine Herbs (Parley, Chives, Coriander)

For the salad (makes 4 large or 6 small portions)

500 gr of Lamb’s ear lettuce
200 gr of mixes Oak Leaf lettuce
2-3 medium carrots
½ Onion
100 gr Dried Fruit (dates, apricot, figs or raisins)
100 gr of Nuts (Walnut, Almond, Pecan)
1 Orange
Tender Carrot tops (optional)
Edible Flowers (optional)

Tools

Cutting board
Big bowls
Salad spinner
Jar/container with lid for dressing
Wand mixer
Chefs Knife and/or Fruit Knife

Useful guidelines

Handeling lettuce

Never cut but always tear lettuce leaves.

The 4 key elements to a good salad

When adding salt, sweetness, tartness and fattiness to you salad you can almost not fail. Make sure you balance the whole correctly.

Substituting elements

A good dressing is a thing of beauty and can be made using many different sour and fatty elements. You could use different types of vinegar or juice of other types of citrus. Oliv oil is great, but nut oils are also wonderfull. Just remember the ratio of 1:2 (acidity:fat) and you will make a delicous dressing each time. Season with salt and add a hint of sweetness by using honey, molasses, sugar or fruit.

Directions

Simply follow these steps:

STEP 1 :

Wash your salad and dry it well. Store in cool place until using.

STEP 2 :

Start off by prepping your dressing. This recipe is to make a jar of the dressing to have at hand for later use. In case you do not want to make extra. Just divide the recipe by 3.

STEP 3 :

In a tall container or jar add two whole cloves of garlic. Add the lemon juice and the vinegar. With a wand mixer mix the whole until the garlic is finely chopped.

STEP 4 :

Then add in the honey, mustard salt and olive oil. Place the wand mixer at the bottom of your jar and start mixing while slowly pulling your wand mixer up.

The whole should emulsify into a creamy looking loose mayonnaise.

STEP 5 :

Now finely chop up your fine herbs and mix them in with a spoon. Taste the dressing and season to your taste. You can add more of each ingredients to balance out your proffered level of tartness, sweetness and fattiness.

STEP 6 :

Then prepare your vegetables, nuts and fruit for your salad. Get creative ans slice is in a way you think will be pleasant to eat. Think about playing around with length and thickness of your carrots and onion. The finer you slice, the more present the overall flavor will be in the dish. The bigger you slice, the more crisp/crunch you will experience.

STEP 7:

Now assemble your salad. First break up your leaves in smaller bite sized pieces by tearing the lettuce. Mix in a few tablespoons of dressing into your salad leaves and gently mix with your finger tips. Season with a small sprinkling of salt for an extra pop of flavor.

STEP 8 :

Introduce a tbs of dressing on each individual plate before scattering on some heavy ingredients (fruits, nuts, carrot, onion) then top that with the dressed leaves. Now distribute the rest of your ingredients artistically on top of the salad, as if they fell out of the sky onto the plate (but perfectly :D)

STEP 9 :

Top off with some carrot tops and edible flowers and voila! Ready to eat!

Storage

The dressing stored extremely well in the fridge. Up to 2 weeks. The flavour will become less fresh if you add the fine herbs. If you plan on storing it, add the herbs each time you use the dressing.

PRO TIP:

Make your dressing in a jar with a lid. This way you do not have to wash up more dishes. Make sure you wand mixer fits in the opening of the jar beforehand!
Bulk wash your lettuce at the beginning when you come back from the garden or supermarket. That way you only have to do the dirty work once and you have fresh salad at hand for every meal.