Over the years I’ve come to the conclusion that I do not think about salad the same way normal people do. The first step toward this realization occurred one Thanksgiving dinner when I was passed a beautiful wooden salad bowl. Peering inside, I saw a mouthwatering mix of butterhead lettuce, red onion, and avocado tossed with a creamy dressing. There was just one helping left, and as I was about to place it on my plate, I glanced around the table and noticed that only one other person had any salad. The contents of that bowl were supposed to feed seven more people!
Then there was the phone conversation I once had with a long-distance gardening friend. He had called to announce that he and his wife had made an interesting discovery about growing lettuce.
"If you just pull off some of the leaves instead of plucking the entire plant from the ground, the leaves will keep growing back. The way we figure it," he said brightly, "you only need three lettuce plants to feed two people for the entire summer."
I decided not to mention the three heads of lettuce I'd consumed earlier that day for lunch—or the 200 square feet of salad greens in my organic heirloom garden.
The other day I was harvesting a pile of mesclun to send home with a gardenless friend. "That’s plenty!" she said as I continued to pick.
"That," I politely informed her, "is barely enough for one serving."
And when I set a bowl of salad in front of a houseguest recently, he looked down at it, looked up at me, and said, "Please tell me this is for all of us."
"You don’t have to finish it," I reassured him. But I probably will.
So I’m a little obsessed with salads, which I eat nearly every day of the year. And while pretty much anything green, leafy, and not poisonous is fair game for my salad bowl, lettuce holds a special place in my heart.
For there are certain times when absolutely nothing, not even chocolate, will satisfy my soul and stomach except some freshly picked butter lettuce from the garden. Even if it’s 1:30 in the morning. And we’re in the middle of a thunder/lightning/wind/hail/rainstorm. And my terrified, 50-pound, thunder-phobic dog is trying desperately to climb into my arms as I crouch down harvesting lettuce in the wet darkness with a 98% dead flashlight. But oh, how that salad hit the spot.
Recipe For A Perfect Spring Salad:
Harvest lettuce as close to mealtime as possible. Wash by swishing it gently in a large bowl of cold water. Drain and repeat. Spin dry.
Find the biggest bowl you can, and fill it with your beautiful bounty. Keep it simple. Toss in a handful of organic garbanzo beans and a few cracked green olives. Toss lightly with a vinaigrette made with extra-virgin olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, plenty of real dijon mustard, some good onion and garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Proportions are entirely up to you.Freshly chopped garlic and shallots are very nice additions if you have the time and energy and really feel like swooning. Top with plenty of coarsely grated pecorino romano cheese. Find a fork and dive in.
Up next: How To Grow Your Own Gourmet Lettuce (It’s easier than you think!)
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Farmgirl Susan, Food Correspondent:
Susan’s column, "In The Kitchen With Farmgirl Susan," is featured on Gather Essentials:Food and takes a Less Fuss, More Flavor approach to comfort food, seasonal eating, & organic kitchen gardening. Susan was a cultured California chick who happily turned manure mucking farmgirl. She now lives on a 240-acre remote Missouri farm with sheep, chickens, two dogs, seven cats, an adorable donkey named Dan, & one very well fed farmguy. She shares stories and photos of her crazy country life at her blogs, FarmgirlFare.com and InMyKitchenGarden.com.
Click here to find all of Susan’s "In The Kitchen With Farmgirl Susan" articles, and click here to join her Gather network or subscribe to her Gather postings. You’ll find Susan and other Food Correspondents plus celebrity chef content and plenty of other foodies at Food.gather.com.Contents © copyright 2007 FarmgirlFare.com.
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Comments: 13
I like salad, too, but you're not normal.
Can't wait to read the next one. Last November we planted a 4x4 little patch of mesclun and it did beatifully for just the two of us....now all except the mizuna is gone, but we are still eating from it.....We just replanted a patch of mesclun yesterday!
Sonia, quit yer bragging, already!
(just kiddin'...............harumph.... maybe)
BLT Salad
6 bacon slices
1/4 loaf Italian bread
1/2 lb cherry tomatoes
1 small red onion
1/2 head lettuce
Dressing:
1/4 C. mayonnaise
1/4 t. minced garlic
1 T. fresh lemon juice
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
In a skillet, cook bacon until crispy. Drain bacon on a paper towel. Drain all but 1 T. of the bacon fat from the pan.
Cut bread into 3/4 inch cubes. Heat fat to a moderately high heat and add the bread cubes to the pan. Saute cubes until golden. Transfer to a paper towel and cool.
In a small bowl, mix together dressing ingredients. Set aside.
In a large bowl, add torn up lettuce, onions, tomatoes, 1/2 of the bacon and 1/2 of the croutons. Add enough dressing to coat.
Divide salad among plates and top with reserved bacon and croutons.
Serves 2 as a main course.