With the sun beating down on us all day and the heat steadily rising, it's about time we dusted off the old salad spinner and prepared a few cooling summer salads. I was pleasantly surprised walking around my local supermarket the other day at the many different varieties of lettuce and salad leaves available. You don't even have to go through the hassle of cleaning your lettuce as you can buy ready mixed salad leaves, full of different flavours, textures and colours all cleaned and ready to eat. All you need to do is drizzle the leaves with a little dressing at the last minute and tuck in. When buying lettuce look for fresh, blemishfree leaves and avoid those that droop or wilt. Buy them on the same day as they are highly perishable and deteriorate very quickly. Salad leaves do a body good, some have high levels of vitamin c (such as watercress) and calcium. Others contain substantial amounts of potassium, vitamin a, beta carotene and add much-needed fibre to the diet. So mix it up a little-try baby spinach leaves with an anchovy dressing, frise (curly endive) with crispy bacon and mustardy-lemony vinaigrette. Iceberg lettuce, a crisp head lettuce with an excellent dense, crunchy texture and a pale green colour is great for seafood cocktails and adds a crunch to mixed salads. Little gems, a small compact lettuce with crispy, round leaves and a distinct flavour perfect in waldorf salads with celery, apple, walnuts and mayonnaise. My favourite salad leaf is rocket, a strong, peppery leaf with jagged-edged leaves and a pleasant bite. it goes well with Mediterranean ingredients such as sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan cheese and pine nuts. Majorca produces a wonderful wild rocket called rucula selvetica the leaves are smaller than standard rocket leaves and have a stronger, peppery flavour. They go particularly well with goat's cheese but can also be included in pasta, fish or meat dishes. It's a rich source of iron as well as vitamins a and c, so break out the salads this summer, stay cool and stay healthy.
SUMMER SALAD DAYS AND RECIPES
MARCH FOSH IS OUR MICHELIN STAR CHEF AND WILL ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS
22/06/2003 00:00
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