Jane Says: Don't Turn On the Stove—Eat an Amazing Salad for Dinner
Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:00:45 PDT
“What are some ideas for salads that are nutritious and satisfying enough for supper?”
—Gina Frank
Long gone are the days when main-course salads were pretty much limited to chicken or seafood concoctions involving mayonnaise or a virtuous (i.e., heavy and bland) effort composed of brown rice and not much else. These days, they’re far more likely to showcase interesting greens and other pristine seasonal produce, as well as staple ingredients from around the globe. Whether you’re a sucker for a carefully curated salade Niçoise (albeit made with pole-caught wild American tuna) or a wonderful jumble of leftovers, main-course salads are an easy way to work healthy foods into your daily routine without being chained to the stove. Also, you get to channel your inner forager, whether you’re on the prowl at a farmers market or staring into your kitchen cupboard or refrigerator.
You’ll find links to recipes throughout this column, but they’re really more guidelines or jumping-off points than anything else. Take panzanella—the traditional Italian tomato-and-bread salad that originated as a way to use up day-old loaves—for example. One delicious twist is this roasted-vegetable panzanella, from my former Gourmet colleague Melissa Roberts-Matar; the addition of roasted green beans, cannellini beans, and fresh mozzarella gives it heft and depth of flavor. You could substitute all sorts of cooked (or tender, raw) green vegetables for the roasted green beans and chickpeas for the white beans. Or you could take the concept in another direction entirely—to the Middle East, say, by using torn pita or other flat bread, black-eyed peas or favas, and preserved lemon, either homemade or store-bought, to brighten the vinaigrette.
As far as beans go, you know by now that legumes are an important (and inexpensive) source of dietary fiber and protein, and also contain folate, iron, and potassium. In a perfect world, we’d all have a stash of cooked-from-scratch beans in the freezer, but if you don’t, it’s not an insurmountable hurdle. Canned beans, a genuine convenience food, will do; just remember to rinse them (to remove much of the sodium) and drain well before using. I always keep canned chickpeas in the pantry because I have terrible luck cooking dried ones (they never seem to get tender). Add lots of flat-leaved parsley (which is sensibly treated as a vegetable in the Middle East), tomato, kalamata olives, red bell pepper, feta cheese, and lemony-garlicky vinaigrette—and you have yourself dinner in no time flat.
Cooked-from-scratch whole grains, which also freeze beautifully, have their place in main-course salads too. Farro is one of my favorites, and in this salad—from Martha Rose Shulman at The New York Times—its nutty chewiness plays well with earthy-sweet beets (roast them in the cool of the morning) and satiny sautéed beet greens. Crumble some mild feta or fresh goat cheese over all and dinner is ready. Shulman’s Indonesian-Style Chicken Salad is another standby; it’s a terrific balance of flavors and textures, and it makes you feel cooler just looking at it.
Before I go any further, I should mention two things. First, once you start thinking about salad for supper, you’ll not only start to look at leftovers in a whole new light, but actually build them into your routine. Roast two chickens instead of just one, for instance, and you’ll have plenty of extra meat for the chicken salad mentioned above. And a main-course salad is a great farewell meal at a weekend house or beach cottage: Think about incorporating the remnants of grilled vegetables or leftover shrimp, fish, or sliced steak—all those bits and pieces that otherwise will languish in the fridge. Artfully corralled on a big platter, they look inviting to guests and spell F-R-E-E-D-O-M to the chief cook and dish washer. Don’t forget to take into account the pan drippings from roast chicken or meats; just warm them up and add to a dressing in place of some of the oil you’re using.
Second, just because I’ve mentioned chicken, seafood, steak, and beans, I don’t mean to imply that a salad isn’t a main course unless it contains protein-rich foods. As I wrote in a column back in May 2013, a protein deficiency is not something most Americans, even physically active vegetarians and vegans, have to worry about. That’s because protein is not a food group; it’s a nutrient that is present in almost all foods, including green vegetables, potatoes, grains, nuts, seeds, and fruit. And the notion that there are complete and incomplete proteins is way out of date.
Now, about salad greens: In general, the deeper the color, the better they are for you. The darker lettuces, such as butterhead or romaine types, contain more antioxidants and nutrients than paler, tighter heads such as iceberg. If you or your family happen to love iceberg, however—you can’t beat it for crispness and juiciness—perhaps mix it with arugula or watercress, which are both nutritional powerhouses. Here’s a closer look at the variety of salad greens that are readily available.
If you’re limited to shopping at a supermarket rather than a farm stand, don’t despair. Photosynthesis happens in continuous light (whether daylight or fluorescent) even after spinach and other greens are harvested and on the shelf. After reading this 2010 report published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, in which researchers found that leaves exposed to retail continuous light had higher levels of all the vitamins except some from the vitamin A family, you’ll want to opt for greens arranged in the front of the produce case; they have more nutrients than the ones underneath or behind them.
When it comes to salad dressings, it’s important to understand that they’re something to have fun playing around with. That said, however, here are a few tips for success:
Buy high-quality oils and vinegars. You’ll find lots of information on olive oils in my columns last week and the week before, but experiment, too, with specialty oils such as walnut, hazelnut, pumpkinseed, and grapeseed. As far as vinegars go, look for those on the lower end of the acidity scale, 4 to 5 percent (it will be printed on the label). The proportions of oil and acid in a typical vinaigrette are two to three parts oil to one part acid. Deep flavored greens and other salad ingredients—beets, say—can take a more acidic dressing than tender lettuces can. Adding minced shallot to a dressing gives it finesse and a bit of sweetness. A little Asian fish sauce, anchovy paste, miso, or pan drippings are shortcuts to depth of flavor. Buttermilk and low-fat yogurt provide creaminess and tang. To give a dressing more body, whisk in a teaspoon or so of Dijon mustard, mashed egg yolk or avocado, or some finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Dressings will wilt salad greens quickly, so unless a recipe says otherwise, dress salads just before serving. In the immortal words of comedic great Fred Allen, “A salad should be dressed like Dorothy Lamour—adequately but lightly.”
Related stories on TakePart:
• Cheap, Sustainable, Delicious Recipe: Quinoa Salad With Walnuts and Mint
• Jane Says: Don’t Be Misled by Olive Oil Labels
• Jane Says: You Can't Go Wrong With These Olive Oils
• Can Scientists Wash Away Tainted Salad Greens?
Original article from TakePart
