SALAD DAYS
In search of freshness, ranting!
Lately, this DesperateAngloHousewife has become rather despondent at the lack of decent salads.
I am finding salads either totally lacking originality, misrepresentative of their promised content, limp with age or dripping and greasy, floating around in industrial vinaigrettes.
I am on the warpath!
Like alot of other desperateanglohousewives, I kid myself into thinking that ordering salads will be a great way to induce nymph-like slimness. I would of course do better by spending more money on scarey support knickers and togs with inner panelling!!
Too many salads are full of "bad" ingredients...sweet corn,pre-cooked potato chunks,croutons, high salt content charcuterie, etc - all of which have the cunning habit of sliding down to thighs and waistelines.
Other ingredients can be simply cast as "sad"....industrial vinaigrettes, processed cheeses, precooked saline-injected chicken breast, nasty shrivelled bacon-bits delivered by the kilo, oily croutons flavoured with too many "e" ingredients, dressings spiked with flavour enhancers such as MSG,something which looks like grated carrot but has NO taste, pre-washed lettuce pieces drooping with neglect and age...and the list goes on.
Whilst I'm on a rant I might as well talk about egg in salads. Why do we put up with sliced hard-boiled egg pieces which have turned green around the yolk and smell like a public loo? The whites are so rubbery they just about bounce!!
Mustn't forget "herbes de provence"...awful, dusty, potpourri-type condiment inflicted upon almost every goat cheese salad throughout summer. Leave it out!!!
OH God and what about the relationship some restaurants have been having since the 90s with sliced orange, dried parsley and paprika scattered all over the plate edge. Dreadful!
It just seems to me that it is becoming rarer and rarer to find a salad which isn't a shake up of pre-cooked, pre-prepared, bagged ingredients.
I can think of ONE sole café in the whole of Bordeaux where you can have a salad and feel excited...La Bocca, rue Notre Dame. Go there and indulge yourselves. It is certainly the only café I know which doesn't just throw industrial ingredients onto a plate and sell it as a gourmet salad! Their salads are honest, delicious, fresh and original.
I am going to suggest some salads over the next few posts which will hopefully have some impact on your tastebuds and remind you that what we are buying in restaurants is simply not up to scratch.
A good salad doesn't need a huge quantity of ingredients - 5 or 6 ingredients is more than enough. Choose seasonal veg and herbs, high quality oils and extras.
Pecorino, Tuna, Fresh Basil and Summer Tomato Salad
Thinly sliced strips of Pecorino Pepato(I use a cheese slicer or a potato peeler to slice this)
Medium sized tin of high quality white tuna*
1 red onion, chopped finely
Handful of capers
Scissorcut fresh basil
Organic cherry tomatoes
Olive oil 3T
Lemon juice (juice half a lemon)
Malden salt
Black pepper
In a large salad bowl pour in olive oil, lemon juice, pepper and salt to taste. Throw in capers and crush slightly with a fork.
Chop tomatoes roughly, adding scissorcut basil leaves, red onion and tuna. Top with slices of pecorino.
Toss lightly.
I am finding salads either totally lacking originality, misrepresentative of their promised content, limp with age or dripping and greasy, floating around in industrial vinaigrettes.
I am on the warpath!
Like alot of other desperateanglohousewives, I kid myself into thinking that ordering salads will be a great way to induce nymph-like slimness. I would of course do better by spending more money on scarey support knickers and togs with inner panelling!!
Too many salads are full of "bad" ingredients...sweet corn,pre-cooked potato chunks,croutons, high salt content charcuterie, etc - all of which have the cunning habit of sliding down to thighs and waistelines.
Other ingredients can be simply cast as "sad"....industrial vinaigrettes, processed cheeses, precooked saline-injected chicken breast, nasty shrivelled bacon-bits delivered by the kilo, oily croutons flavoured with too many "e" ingredients, dressings spiked with flavour enhancers such as MSG,something which looks like grated carrot but has NO taste, pre-washed lettuce pieces drooping with neglect and age...and the list goes on.
Whilst I'm on a rant I might as well talk about egg in salads. Why do we put up with sliced hard-boiled egg pieces which have turned green around the yolk and smell like a public loo? The whites are so rubbery they just about bounce!!
Mustn't forget "herbes de provence"...awful, dusty, potpourri-type condiment inflicted upon almost every goat cheese salad throughout summer. Leave it out!!!
OH God and what about the relationship some restaurants have been having since the 90s with sliced orange, dried parsley and paprika scattered all over the plate edge. Dreadful!
It just seems to me that it is becoming rarer and rarer to find a salad which isn't a shake up of pre-cooked, pre-prepared, bagged ingredients.
I can think of ONE sole café in the whole of Bordeaux where you can have a salad and feel excited...La Bocca, rue Notre Dame. Go there and indulge yourselves. It is certainly the only café I know which doesn't just throw industrial ingredients onto a plate and sell it as a gourmet salad! Their salads are honest, delicious, fresh and original.
I am going to suggest some salads over the next few posts which will hopefully have some impact on your tastebuds and remind you that what we are buying in restaurants is simply not up to scratch.
A good salad doesn't need a huge quantity of ingredients - 5 or 6 ingredients is more than enough. Choose seasonal veg and herbs, high quality oils and extras.
Pecorino, Tuna, Fresh Basil and Summer Tomato Salad
Medium sized tin of high quality white tuna*
1 red onion, chopped finely
Handful of capers
Scissorcut fresh basil
Organic cherry tomatoes
Olive oil 3T
Lemon juice (juice half a lemon)
Malden salt
Black pepper
In a large salad bowl pour in olive oil, lemon juice, pepper and salt to taste. Throw in capers and crush slightly with a fork.
Chop tomatoes roughly, adding scissorcut basil leaves, red onion and tuna. Top with slices of pecorino.
*pantry note - tuna can be replaced with freshly smoked white fish such as Cod.
Toss lightly.
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Fab salad photo. Yum.
ReplyDeleteWow, amazing salad. Made it.Loved it.
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