Addie Broyles| abroyles@statesman.com
There’s no need for boring salads, especially this time of year.
When it’s fall or winter, when salads are mere side dishes to the braises and roasts and other heavy main dishes we tend to serve, they might be simple: a handful of greens with a drizzle of olive oil, just to lighten the plate.
But right now, when it’s too hot to labor over a stove for a main dish plus sides, many of us turn to dinner-worthy salads that will keep us fed without overheating our kitchens. We all have our favorite ways to make salads, but if you feel in a rut with the ingredients, techniques, dressings or flavor profiles, check out these global-inspired salads from a handful of new books that have been released this year.
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All of them demonstrate some of the key components to making any salad. First, start with fresh greens or lettuce. Don’t wait until the lettuce or spring mix you bought starts to wilt or else you won’t want to eat it; plan to use greens within two days of purchase.
Second, every good salad needs a good dressing, and if you like store-bought dressings, then, by all means, use them. Living in Spain, where most people only dress salads in olive oil and salt, spoiled my taste buds; most commercial dressings are too salty and sweet for my taste. Homemade dressings don’t take that much time to make, especially if you shake the ingredients together in a jar with a lid — but I’m not here to convince you to throw away all the store-bought stuff in your fridge.
Third, don’t forget the crunch. As Samin Nosrat explored in her cookbook “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat,” which Netflix recently announced they areturning into a TV show this fall, a good salad has salt, fat and acid, and a really good one also has something to add a crunchy texture. She also recommends making sure that your salad has one element of umami, the so-called fifth flavor, found in goat cheese, anchovies, soy sauce, mushrooms and cured meats.
If you’re looking for new ways to add texture with another layer of acid, consider adding quick pickles to your salad. Several of these recipes call for already prepared pickled onions (or carrots or radishes), so here’s a quick overview of how to make them from Farmhouse Delivery, the Austin-based food delivery company that specializes in local produce.
Chop up all the vegetables you want to pickle — from okra and green beans to cucumbers and jicama — and place them in a large Mason jar. Boil equal parts water, white wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar in a medium pot. (For a 16-ounce jar, you’ll need about 1/2 cup of each.) You can add chopped scallion, garlic, salt or spices at this stage, or you can simply heat the vinegars and water. Pour the hot pickling liquid over the vegetables in the jar. Let them cool for a bit, and then close with a lid. Store in the fridge for up to two weeks.
Southwestern Fattoush Salad With Black Beans
Fattoush, like panzanella, requires bread to add texture and balance to the tomatoes, cucumbers and dressing that also accompany the salad. In the Middle East, you might find pita or other flatbreads in a typical fattoush, but this recipe from Cooking Light uses tortilla chips to create a satisfying Southwestern salad. You could bulk up this salad even more by adding spicy grilled chicken breast or rotisserie chicken.
— Addie Broyles
5 cups coarsely chopped romaine lettuce hearts (about 8 ounces)
1 (15-ounce) can unsalted black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved (about 6 ounces)
2 ounces baked corn tortilla chips, coarsely broken (about 2 cups whole chips)
2 ounces cotija cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from 1 lime)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 medium-size ripe avocado, chopped
3 tablespoons roasted pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)
Combine the romaine, beans, tomatoes, tortilla chips and cheese in a large bowl.
Whisk together the oil, lime juice and salt in a small bowl. Drizzle over the salad and toss. Top with the avocado and pepitas. Serve immediately. Serves 6.
— From “The All-New Fresh Food Fast by the Editors of Cooking Light” (Oxmoor House, $25.99)
Spanish Salad With Piquillo Peppers, Smoked Trout and Olives
Nate once had a memorable meal at Casa Mingo, an Asturian cider house in Madrid, that included asadillo — a hearty dish of roasted piquillo peppers, onions, canned tuna, hard-boiled eggs and olives. In our re-creation, we added diminutive Gem lettuce leaves to create a lighter salad; pickled the onions to add some acid and crunch; and replaced the tuna with smoked trout. We like to serve this salad with a Spanish omelet and bread on the side.
— Jonah Miller
2 heads Little Gem lettuce or any baby lettuce heads
1 teaspoon plus 1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil
10 canned or jarred piquillo peppers
1 tablespoon Pedro Ximénez sherry vinegar or other aged sherry vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 ounces smoked trout
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
5 soft-boiled (simmered for 6 to 7 minutes) eggs, peeled and quartered lengthwise
1/2 cup meaty black olives, such as Empeltre or Kalamata, pitted
1/2 cup pickled red onions
Trim the base of the lettuce heads and gently separate the leaves. Keeping the leaves whole, wash them and dry thoroughly.
Heat a pan to searing hot; add 1 teaspoon of the olive oil and then the piquillo peppers. Char on the first side for 2 minutes, then flip. Sear for 1 minute on the second side, then remove from the heat and deglaze the pan with the vinegar, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the pan bottom. Season with salt and black pepper and transfer to a bowl or plate, along with any vinegar that hasn’t evaporated or been soaked up by the peppers.
Flake the smoked trout into 10 to 12 pieces. Tear each piquillo into 2 or 3 pieces.
In a bowl, dress the lettuce with the remaining olive oil — 1/2 cup oil for an authentically oil-heavy Spanish salad or less if you prefer — the lemon juice and any sherry vinegar left behind in the piquillo bowl. Season with salt and black pepper.
To finish, in a large serving bowl or deep plate, thoughtfully compose the salad. Lay some lettuce down, followed by a few chunks of egg, trout, piquillo peppers, olives and onions. Repeat, layering the ingredients until you’ve used them all. Serve immediately. Serves 4.
— From “The New Spanish: Bites, Feasts and Drinks” by Jonah Miller and Nate Adler (Kyle Books, $29.99)
Roasted Chickpea Banh Mi Salad
Banh mi sandwiches have inspired countless wraps, tacos and salads that feature the flavors of this popular Vietnamese dish. The recipes usually call for some kind of salty-sweet marinated pork, but this vegetarian version gives chickpeas a similar treatment. Although you could use pickled jalapeños, fresh jalapeños will give it a more traditional heat.
The avocado crema salad dressing could stand on its own as a recipe worth keeping, so feel free to use it on your favorite summer salad. You could also roast these chickpeas on their own for a snack. If you prepare both the chickpeas and the dressing in advance, this salad doesn’t take long to put together. For a Tex-Mex twist, skip the croutons and serve with tortilla chips.
— Addie Broyles
For the chickpeas:
2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas
4 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons neutral oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 clove garlic
Half thumb tip-size piece of peeled fresh ginger
For the croutons:
4 cups 1/2-inch cubed crusty bakery bread (like a baguette)
Scant 1/4 cup olive oil
Pinch of kosher salt
For the avocado crema:
1/2 ripe avocado
2 tablespoons plain whole-milk yogurt
4 to 6 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
For the salad:
1 (5-ounce) box mixed greens
1/2 cup thinly sliced English cucumber
1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
2 green onions, sliced
1 jalapeño, thinly sliced
Quick-pickled radishes and carrots, to taste
Prepare the chickpeas. Heat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drain, rinse and dry the chickpeas and place on the prepared baking sheet. Add all the remaining chickpea ingredients into a high-powered blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Pour the glaze on the chickpeas, tossing to evenly coat. Roast for 30 minutes or until lightly charred, stirring halfway through.
Make the croutons: Heat a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium-high. Once hot, add the cubed bread. Toss with the oil and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes or until toasted with a slight chew remaining in the center. Remove from the heat. This can be done up to 1 week in advance and stored covered at room temperature.
Make the crema: In a high-powered blender or food processor, add all the crema ingredients; cover and blend until smooth. Add additional water as needed, 1 tablespoon at a time, to reach a sauce/dressing consistency. This can be made up to 1 week in advance.
To assemble the salad, divide greens evenly among 4 plates. Top with roasted chickpeas, croutons, crema and remaining ingredients. For a zippier flavor, add a tiny spoonful of the pickle juice onto the salad.
— From “The Minimalist Kitchen: 100 Wholesome Recipes, Essential Tools and Efficient Techniques” by Melissa Coleman (Oxmoor House, $29.99)
Red Cabbage and Apple Slaw With Walnuts and Pomegranate
In Nordic countries, including Norway and Sweden, fresh lettuce isn’t all that fresh during many months of the year. In many salads, including this one from Katrin Björk’s “From the North: A Simple and Modern Approach to Authentic Nordic Cooking,” you’ll find heartier ingredients, such as cabbage. We might associate cabbage with the winter months, but when tossed with a light sherry dressing, walnuts and pomegranate seeds, it fits in nicely as a summer-friendly dish. Björk says she serves this slaw with everything, “meat or fish, in any season, rain or shine.”
— Addie Broyles
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 teaspoons sherry vinegar
2 teaspoons mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
Salt and pepper
1/2 head red cabbage, shredded
1 green apple, shredded
1/2 pomegranate, seeded
Handful walnuts, roughly chopped
Handful parsley, finely chopped
Whisk the olive oil, vinegar, mustard and brown sugar together until the sugar has dissolved; season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss the dressing with the cabbage, apple, pomegranate and walnuts, and sprinkle parsley over the slaw. Serves 4.
— From “From the North: A Simple and Modern Approach to Authentic Nordic Cooking” by Katrin Björk (Page Street, $21.99)
Spicy Thai Corn Salad
When I crave fresh corn — meaning all summer long — I usually want an easy preparation that showcases its sweet flavor. Often, that means simply grilling, barely steaming or microwaving it. I’ll cook more than I need for one meal on the weekends, shave it off the cob and keep it around for salads, cold soups, grain bowls, tacos and more.
But when I’m after something a little more complex, I start branching out, to the Mexican street corn called elote, omelets and pasta with a creamy corn sauce. And now I’ve found another treatment to add to the repertoire: a Thai-style salad that combines corn with smashed green beans, shredded carrots, cashews and chiles in a salty, tart, sweet and spicy dressing.
The original recipe called for a mortar and pestle, but because we doubled the recipe beyond the capacity of most mortars, we found it easier to put the ingredients into a gallon-size zip-top bag and pound with a rolling pin. (You could also use a flat-sided meat pounder.)
A note: For a way to briefly cook corn that makes it easy to husk and de-silk, dip the cobs, husks and all, in water (just to moisten them). Microwave on high power for 4 to 5 minutes, until very hot. Remove, let cool for a bit, then use a sharp knife to cut crosswise through the husk and cob an inch or two from the wide end (opposite from the end with the tassel of silk). Hold the silk end, and push the corn out. To cut off the kernels, let the cobs cool until easy to handle. Cut the cobs in half crosswise, stand each half on one end and cut off the kernels from each side.
— Joe Yonan
1 to 2 red Thai bird’s eye chiles (depending on your tolerance for heat), stemmed, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch slices
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 cup green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, or more as needed
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from 2 or 3 limes)
2 medium tomatoes, cored and cut into 8 wedges each
3 medium carrots, scrubbed well, then coarsely grated
2 1/2 cups cooked corn kernels (from 3 cobs)
1 3/4 cups roasted, unsalted cashews
Combine the chiles (to taste) and garlic in a gallon zip-top bag and zip it almost all the way closed, leaving an inch or two unzipped. Use a rolling pin to pound the chiles and garlic through the plastic and form a rough paste. Add the beans and pound briefly to crush them a little. Add the brown sugar, soy sauce and lime juice.
Add the tomatoes and pound briefly, just to flatten them. Stir in the carrots and corn; pound gently, just to help the flavors incorporate. Taste, and add more soy sauce as needed. Transfer to a serving bowl, top with the cashews and serve right away. Serves 6 to 8.
— Adapted from “Rosa’s Thai Cafe: The Vegetarian Cookbook” by Saiphin Moore (Mitchell Beazley, $30)
