Brainstorming Salad

I secretly love salad.

I do. It seems weird. I mean, what's the big deal? Lettuce, dressing, maybe a couple of cucumbers. That's a salad, right?

Well kind of. And no.

A truly great salad is a rare thing, a perfectly balanced combination of flavors, pulled together by just the right dressing, to make something satisfying, delicious, filling.

(Did she say filling?)

We've all had okay salads. Limp greens to accompany your pasta entree, with lame lite Italian dressing and a few sad strips of pink, flaccid tomato. Or iceberg lettuce drenched in bland white goop, masquerading as a Caesar salad. But at least once in our lives, each of us has also had a totally triumphant salad, something that made us want to mop up the leftover dressing with the dinner rolls. Made us want to sit back and undo the top button of our jeans when nobody was looking.

Still don't know what I'm talking about? Try this:

Imagine a pile of fresh, spicy mescalun greens, tossed with a sweet, tart balsamic vinaigrette. Now top it with crisp cubes of Fuji apple, chunky walnuts, red onion, pepper crusted steak tips cooked perfectly medium rare, and funky blue cheese crumbles. Maybe some ripe cherry tomatoes for good measure, why not? Go crazy.

Salivating yet? No? Try this one.

A latin style salad of fresh romaine lettuce with a garlicky cilantro lime dressing, (homemade of course). Marinate a few strips of chicken breast in the dressing, saving the rest for later. Now while the chicken is blackening on the grill, top the lettuce with fresh diced tomato, shredded cheddar cheese, a handful of black beans for some hearty, toothy texture, some fresh sliced jicama, and finish it off with some seasoned tortilla strips for a festive alternative to traditional croutons. Avocado in a salad like this one is never a bad thing either.

The key to a truly mind blowing salad is to think about your salad the way you would think about any other dish. Balancing the flavors and textures and combining them just so is crucial. Sure, you could drop some tomato and cucumber on there and call it a day, but what if you keep the cucumber and drop the tomato? Replace it with say...mandarin oranges? And a handful of water chestnuts. And forget about that bottled Italian dressing you were reaching for a minute ago. What could you do with a couple tablespoons of oil, lime juice, some rice wine vinegar, and a dash or three of soy sauce? Think some peanuts would be good on that too? Of course you do.

No oranges? No water chestnuts? That's okay. Start with the mescalun again, or maybe even some baby spinach, and top it with fresh chopped apples. Have a little cold chicken or turkey left over from last night? What about some creamy brie cheese? Drop them both on there, and if you have some of those craisins hanging out in your cupboard, toss some of those in too. Have any sprouts? Have any celery? Either of those would work great here, along with a dressing you can make from the Dijon mustard sitting on the door of your fridge.

Ooh! Got some strawberries? Good! Slice those up and drop them on a bed of baby arugula. You can fix up a quick vinaigrette with some olive oil, a little balsamic, maybe some fresh squeezed orange juice for a little sweetness. In fact, almost any juice would work for this one, so play all you want. Or honey. You can never go wrong with honey in a salad dressing. Top your salad with slivered almonds, cucumbers and fresh, creamy goat cheese. Now take that lovely little bowl of heaven out to the front porch with a chunk of crusty bread and a glass of sangria, prop your bare tootsies someplace where they can feel the breeze, and enjoy the sunshine.