"A woman should never be seen eating or drinking, unless it be lobster salad and Champagne, the only true feminine and becomming viands." Lord Byron
Taking cue from Lord Byron (and perhaps the triple digit Arizona summer) I have been into salads as of late. Nothing seems more enticing than a crisp bowl of greens, some vegetables and fruits tossed in for color. Filling, yet light at the same time, a meal that can be prepared without even turning a knob on the stove. However, I seem to be the only person in our household that considers salad to be a main course. In our home, salad is usually placed on the plate where it sits uneaten by my family until every morsel of "real food" has been savored and enjoyed. Only when Mom begins spouting off the fact that salad and ruffage are the foods that get your "pooper moving" do the eye rolling and salad eating begin. There is nearly always a salad on the dinner plate, but it is looked at as an afterthought. I mean really, I can imagine my son thinking, "why should I eat this pile of yard clippings when I can have another bite of rib eye?" So my mission this week has been to entice my family into enjoying the bounty of fruits and vegetables available to us, while also taking advantage of the oh-so-easy summer salad.
Food historians tell us salads (usually defined as mixed greens with dressing of some sort) were enjoyed by ancient Romans and Greeks. As the years progressed, salads became more complicated. Recipes varied according to place and time, availability of ingredients and local food customs and traditions. Dinner salads, as we know them today, were popular in Renaissance time. Composed salads, today known as chef's salads, were assembles with layers of ingredients and enjoyed in the 18th century. Walking into the supermarket or farmers market today offers the home cook a vast litany of items with which to inspire, create and assemble the humble salad. You can use your imagination and style, favorite flavors and textures, to create your own personal salad... or you can grab a salad-in-a-bag, head to the express lane and be out of the market in five minutes flat. Myself being a person who can't imagine buying anything all put together in a bag (Can you think of anything more tiresome than the bed-in-a-bag options at the linen store? All matchy-matchy...boring!) tried to draw inspiration from favorite traditional recipes. Pairing ingredients that reminded me of dishes I had sampled, flavors that brought back memories, and textures that inspired and satisfied.. I was off to begin my salad adventure.
My first salad must be credited to my good friend, Marybeth. Having eaten a simply wonderful salad at her home earlier in the week, I set out to create dinner. Mixed greens, spinach, romaine and ridichio, topped with sliced sweet strawerries, tart and plumb blueberries, rich and tangy gorgonzola. I grilled chicken breast, sliced and placed on top of the salad; all pulled together with a rich champagne vinnaigrette. I could not have had a more pleasing and rounded salad to enjoy. It was a hit with the family and for me, tasted like 4th of July.
Now my second salad was another story, and this little novel was not well reviewed. It began with the very popular mango salsa, add to that an abundance of melons from my melon growing brother, and my bright lightbulb moment "Honeydew Salsa". Perhaps if I had just left well enough alone and copied the mango salsa recipe, subsituting the honeydew for the mango, it would have gone over better. Alas, it was not meant to be. I began by making a delicious cilantro lime vinaigrette. And by delicious, I mean delicious. If I got anything from this recipe that was a keeper, this vinaigrette was it.. it's tart from the lime, tempered by a slight sweetness from fresh orange juice, spiced up slightly with the addition of a garlic clove, and verdant and fresh from the cilantro. Add the smooth mouth feel of the olive oil and my friends, you have one tasty salad dressing. I took a few large spoonfulls of this delicious dressing and tossed it with the pound of cooked shrimp I had picked up for the salad. I placed this tasty duo in the fridge and gave them time to get their groove on. On to my salsa topping. I diced up half of a ripe and sweet honeydew melon, minced up one jalapeno, added in finely chopped purple onion and tossed with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lime. Instead of leaving well enough alone I decided to add a chopped avocado. Because I am sorry, but in my mind, you can absolutely never have enough avocado. This is where I made my wrong turn. Instead of a bright, sweet, tangy and spicy salsa.. I turned it into a funky sweet guacamole. So I assembled my salad greens, tossed them with my scrumptious dressing, added my funky sweet guacamole and my marinated shrimp. It was actually an absolutely beautiful salad; the lovely cool avocado green and brighter honeydew paired nicely with the pink cooked shrimp and I had added some crumbled cotijo cheese which broke up the field of green with specks of tangy white. Gorgeous to look at and pretty darn tasty to eat. My kids did not have the same reaction. My daughter absolutely hated it and I had probably picked the wrong night to try the new concoction, as we had another picky nine year old girl eating with us. My son ate it, said it wasn't his favorite. Hubby and I enjoyed it; it was tasty, tangy, spicy, sweet and, best of all, different.. because aren't we all tired of the same old thing?
