One of the easiest ways to have a quick, healthy meal is to barbecue or grill some fish, chicken or meat and then toss a salad to go with it. Rosemary Stanton says that homemade dressings are much healthier than most shop-bought ones, which often contain sugar and other additives. Also you can modify the dressing to suit the particular dish you are serving.
Use fresh greens from your garden, or from the supermarket. You can choose Iceberg or Cos lettuce, or some of the frilly green and purple varieties. The condition of lettuce is a good guide to its nutritional value. If it looks limp, forget it, as the vitamins will have leached out and the flavour will be poor. You might also like to add baby spinach leaves or rocket to your salad. Wash the greens and use a simple salad spinner to dry them thoroughly. Wet greens wilt when dressed.
Pour some good extra virgin olive oil into a small screw-topped jar and add an acidic ingredient such as lemon juice or vinegar. The right proportions can vary, but generally use two parts of oil to one part of lemon juice or vinegar. Then add extra ingredients such as pepper, herbs, garlic, mustard or chilli. A small jar of dressing will keep in the fridge for several days. However, if you add fresh chilli or fresh herbs strain them out before you refrigerate the dressing – they can easily develop mould.
When dressing a salad, use a light touch. You need only just enough so the dressing clings lightly to the leaves. If there’s dressing left in the bottom of the bowl, you’ve used too much and your salad will go soggy. A salad for four people needs one to two tablespoons of dressing. It might not look like enough when you make it up, but when you toss it thoroughly, it will be just right
Some people try to avoid using dressings that contain oil, but anti-oxidants in vegetables are absorbed better if consumed with some fat. Using a little oil-based dressing on salads not only tastes good, it makes the salad even healthier. Olive oil is especially valuable as it contributes some important anti-oxidants itself. If you use a no-oil dressing, you miss this benefit and take in lots of artificial additives instead.
For a green salad to go with fish, use olive oil and lemon juice. Top with snipped dill. If you’re serving salad with steak, balsamic vinegar is ideal added to olive oil, along with some mustard. With chicken, try cider or raspberry vinegar with olive oil and some fresh lemon thyme, mint, parsley or chives. To match Asian flavours, make a dressing from lime juice, soy or fish sauce and a teaspoon of sesame oil. Add basil, fresh coriander and chilli for adults.
Rosemary Stanton’s article ‘Best Dressed Salads’ is in the March edition of the Burke’s Backyard magazine, available at newsagents now for $4.60.