A Perfect Green Salad

Many chefs will tell you that it’s the simple things that are often the hardest to get right - whether it’s the fact that they’re so simple we forget to think about what we’re trying to achieve or maybe familiarity has bred boredom - I don’t really know. One chef I know says she always orders a green salad at any restaurant she goes to as a kind of ‘test’.

I was reading the other day about salads - with summer approaching they become sort of permanent features at the dinner table don’t they? This season I’ve decided to go back to basics and instead of all the elaborate and exotic salad recipes that one can find in almost every cookbook, I want to start off with a perfect green salad. No original ideas here, just tips gathered along the way from such great chefs as Damien Pignolet here in Australia and Alice Waters from Chez Panisse in Berkeley California.

How to? Well, I remember a recipe for bread and butter pudding by Stephanie Alexander where she starts by saying ‘first make your brioche …’ Mmm - not what you want to read when you’re an hour out from dinner and a quick dessert seemed like a good idea at the time. However, what Stephanie was really getting at I think was to care about your ingredients and make them the best you can. With a salad she’d probably say ‘ first go into your vegetable garden and pick some beautiful fresh leaves …’

• Vegetable garden or not, the perfect green salad begins with the greens - your choice of colours and textures but keep it to about three varieties - the freshest you can find
• Allow about a handful per person - for this recipe I’m using 4 large handfuls of mixed greens
• Trim and wash the leaves - in cold water, using your hands to gently swirl the water - don’t leave them to soak
• Dry the leaves using a salad spinner, then spread the leaves on a clean tea towel to dry them further - at this stage I roll them up gently and store in the fridge, in a vegetable storage bag (available from supermarkets)
• I like the hint of garlic but this is optional - just rub the inside of the salad bowl with a peeled, crushed clove
• Dissolve a pinch of sea salt in 1T red wine vinegar by allowing to stand for a few minutes
• Place the leaves in the salad bowl and drizzle on about 4T extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) - gently mix with your hands - if you like freshly ground pepper you can add it at this stage
• Just before serving, pour over the vinegar and mix again with your hands
• Taste - you may need more salt and/or a little more vinegar
• Serve immediately

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