I have recently been planning my dinner meals for the weeks ahead before time, and while that is already helping with budgeting and time management, it can turn out to be a bit of a nuisance when I've planned to make a roasted parsnip and garlic soup and the weather has warmed up to a spring-like 19C. I did not want the oven on for 40 minutes, followed by a pot on the stove for a further 30 mins, so I determined a little flexibility was in order, and made a salad.
Creating
When I worked in hospitality I learned that making 'do' with what produce you have access to is the only way to get something into the cafe cold-display, and if you have a limited amount of things in your weekly order you really have to get creative with your mixing and matching. Give me access to a few leaves, some fruit and veg, and some creative freedom, and I can invent a salad within a few minutes. It's funny, because as a kid I did not like salad at all, and had no idea of what kind of variety and pairings that could turn a nominal side into a stellar main. No more soggy iceberg lettuce and cucumber swimming in gloopy mayo (I am still not a fan of cucumber). Working in a small cafe with limited produce really honed my creativity when it came to putting a salad option together.
Dressings
I've also learned that a nice salad dressing does not come from the supermarket in a bottle. There's nothing wrong with that, but when it is so simple to mix vinegar and oil I just can't fathom the need for store-bought mass produced dressing. And if you're anything like my family was, the dressing might get used a couple of times and then it's doomed to a life of lurking in the bottom of the fridge, awaiting the next blue moon when you have the fixings for a salad. One of my favourite dressings is a mix of apple cider vinegar, olive oil, cracked salt and pepper. Another fave is a crushed clove of garlic, olive oil, salt and vinegar. I've also become a BIG fan of sherry vinegar, or Vinagre de Jerez, a beautiful Spanish red vinegar that has such a light quality. Red wine vinegar and white wine vinegar also get a mention here, I like to use red wine vinegar with tomato salads and white wine vinegar is great on a white bean salad. I've even used sushi vinegar as a salad dressing ingredient in the past.
Ready-to-hand
Today's salad turned out to be inspired from my "apple and onion salad" of last week. It follows, since I still had half of the small red onion in the fridge, and one lonesome granny smith in the crisper draw. I also had a small amount of baby spinach and some baby rocket from the weekend. I pulled out a jar of roast capsicum and a jar of anchovy stuffed olives from the fridge, but didn't end up using them. I mention this to highlight that I did not have a solid plan of what was going to end up on the plate in the end.
I knew I wanted to use the apple and the onion. We have some lemons from Mr. Oso's mum's tree and I used them as an acid to keep the apples from turning brown and soft. I squeezed the juice of three lemons into a bowl, added some water, and quartered the apple, cored it and thinly sliced it into crescents. Once sliced it went into the lemon juice mix.
I decided then to nix the roast capsicum and olives, as the vinegary/oily/salty tastes weren't what I wanted. So I grabbed a carrot from the fridge, peeled it and shredded it as if for slaw. I poured the lemon juice mix from the apples over them for a few seconds, strained them and then added a sprinkle of salt. Then I took the half onion and sliced it very finely with a mandoline and was ready to build.
The Build
I like to build salad onto the serving plates, rather than placing into a bowl. Firstly, it saves me washing up, and secondly, things don't end up swimming in dressing. I like crispness in a salad. If a salad is a side, it's not going to soggy up the accompaniment, and if it's a main, you're not going to have a plate with a puddle at the end of dinner.
Basically, you want to layer everything. I started with the spinach and rocket and then made a 'clock' with apple crescents, then a pile of the grated carrot in the centre, then scattered thin onion rings across. I then placed another layer of rocket over that, in the centre, with some more carrot sitting at the 'peak' of the salad, and more onion rings. Then I took the remaining apple slices and placed them facing the opposite way in a smaller 'clock'. At this stage I thought I needed something else, and was tempted to use pine nuts, but then remembered I had a packet of dried cranberries we add to our home-made muesli. I have seen combinations for apple and carrot and cranberries before, so I knew they would compliment. I scattered a few in the centre, and then around the edges, then seasoned the salad with rock salt and freshly cracked pepper, and splashed a bit of olive oil across the whole thing. I didn't think I needed to add an acid as the apple had soaked in lemon juice, as did the carrot.
The Result
A really filling main meal, delivering lots of vitamins and fibre with no meat or cheese.
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