My Salad Days

 RHYS BOWEN: Here in Northern California we have been experiencing an unusual heat wave. Yes, it's climate change for you unbelievers! Our house has no air conditionng. We've lived in it for 40 years and never needed it until now. There are usually a few hot days in September when we use fans and keep blinds closed but nothing like this. One day last week as 103! 

One thing we are not doing is cooking. I went out and bought a rotisserie chicken for dinner. I came home to find husband is boiling potatoes and carrots. I pointed out sweetly that it we raised the temperature in the kitchen one more notch the ceiling fan would melt. He didn't get it.

So I've had to be inventive with what we eat. Trader Joe's has some good meals that can be microwaved. We've had the asparagus risotto with some ham added. We've had the scallops and mushrooms. But there are days when I just don't want anything hot, period.

This means salads. When I grew up in England a salad was just something you had for a Sunday high tea. Lettuce, tomato, cucumber, spring onions with a bottle of salad dressing ready and waiting. Husband still has this mentality. He can't picture salad as an actual meal.

I'm trying to convert him. I'm a big fan of arugula, pear, cranberries and gorgonzola. I love beet salad. But neither is filling enough for a man who thinks that every meal should be meat and two veg.

So I'm asking for suggestions:

One thing I do make and love is Asian chicken salad.  I usually cheat, buy the Asian kit then added broiled chicken, but that means I have to broil chicken, which I'm not going to do.

So what are some good hearty salads that require no cooking?  I'm thinking cooked shrimp, sliced mushrooms, baby greens?

Over to you, brilliant cooks:

Everything-and-the-Kitchen-Sink Salad

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: So I told you all about my extra-local organic farm and their wonderful produce; now I'm going to give you two easy-as-dirt recipes (cause let's face it, that's the only kind of recipe I do) for using a staggering amount and variety of greens.

In the last CSA box, we had spicy garden lettuce (they plant it with mustard seed! And it sprouts pre-spiced!) mixed salad greens, pea shoots (or sprouts) and spinach. Also kale, but I'm still working on integrating that into our diet.


Anyway, Ross made two amazing dinner salads with this bounty over the weekend: BLT salad and Steak and Potatos salad. But you can mix and match to your hearts content, tossing in everything and the kitchen sink.


The base: Mixed greens. Ours were VERY mixed! Also grape tomatoes and slivered red peppers - basically any veg you might like to add to a salad.


BLT salad: Saute 1/4 to 1/2 pound bacon with onion rounds until bacon is crispy and onion is soft. Dice cheese of your choice - we use cheddar, since we always have a block of it around. Toss into the greens and add dressing - I put on Creamy Caesar because my kids would eat a 2x4 plank of wood if it had Creamy Caesar on it. Eat while the bacon is still hot!

Steak and potato salad. Ross bought steak tips from the store and marinated them fro an hour in the frig. Then he broiled them until they were medium-well done. Meanwhile, he boiled a package of gnocchi we had stuffed in the back of the freezer and hadn't known what to do with, since it was way too small a helping to feed five.


We tossed the steak tips and gnocchi with the greens and I added my homemade honey mustard dressing: one egg, 1 T spicy mustard, 1T honey and 1 t oil, beaten together. (I actually made more than that, but those are the proportions.) Eat it while the steak is still hot. 

It was great! Who would have thought to put gnocchi on a salad? My husband, that's who.