Cuisine – Salad days

Sweetcorn. Tomatoes. Watermelons. Herbs. There’s always an abundance of wonderful fresh foods from the vegetable garden in the middle of summer. They are perfect to serve at any meal and get you out of a hot, steamy kitchen.

Salads are the saviour of the season. Easy to whip at a moment’s notice. They can be made in advance, and popped in the fridge for an hour or two to chill, making for an easy meal. It is essential to find very fresh veggies and leaves for a salad. Of course, not all salads are based on green leaves but at this time of year the fresh crispness of lettuce leaves can’t be faulted.

I like to make any sort of leafy green as the base for my salads, preferring to lay the well washed and dried leaves out carefully to cover a wide platter, rather than have them disappear into a tangle in a deep bowl. Then, whatever is fresh and appetising can be added – carefully placed so there’s an even spread of everything to be seen throughout the serving dish. I only ever really “toss” my salads when they are entirely composed of leaves.

Spreading out the other delicious ingredients on top means that the best bits don’t disappear to the bottom of the bowl, or all clump together so that one lucky diner scores all the goodies.

A salad like this one is fairly basic but careful thought means you can substitute anything lovely you have in the fridge or in your garden or straight from the orchard. The sweetcorn gives the salad a little substance but you could use thinly sliced and steamed carrots, potatoes or radishes instead. Replace the mozzarella if you wish with feta or a crumbly goat cheese. Mozzarella can be expensive and does not last in the fridge for more than three or four days. Rock melon, berries or any stone fruit can be substituted for the watermelon.

Just remember to squeeze extra lemon over cut stone fruit so it doesn’t turn brown.

For the salad dressing, it is really important that it is not too acidic. If you’re making your own dressing, be absolutely certain to taste it before drizzling over the salad. A pinch of sugar never goes astray, especially when the salad is fruity. There are some excellent prepared dressings in the supermarket – find one you really like and use it for every salad.

---

Watermelon, Corn and Mozzarella Salad

Perfect to take to a barbecue

1 large cob freshly shucked corn
1 iceberg, romaine or cos lettuce
¼ watermelon
6 small ripe tomatoes
1 ball mozzarella cheese or 2 bocconcini balls (you could use feta cheese)
A handful of freshly picked herbs and herb flowers (nasturtiums can be lovely)

Dressing

1 lemon, juice and zest
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp mustard
3 tbsps olive oil
A small pinch of sugar or ½ tsp honey
Salt and pepper to taste

Shuck the corn and plunge into boiling salted water for four to five minutes. Allow to cool and gently cut the corn away from the cob. If you can manage to keep some in nice even pieces, it will look really good on your salad.

Carefully pull the leaves of the lettuce apart and wash thoroughly in cold water. Shake dry in a tea towel so no water remains on the leaves. Lay the leaves as a base over a nice serving plate. Cut the rind from the watermelon and cut the flesh into nice large wedges or fingers at least 5cm to 6cm long.

With a sharp knife, cut the each of the tomatoes into quarters. Drain the cheese and slice it into chunks.

Arrange the watermelon over the lettuce leaves, then arrange the corn and tomatoes on the greens. Strew the herbs over the top.

Make the dressing by shaking all the dressing ingredients together in a jar and then drizzle this over the salad.

Finally decorate with herb flowers.

Serves 4-6 with barbecued chicken, fish, lamb or beef or by itself as a light meal.

You can make the salad in advance, and cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it, but it is better to add the dressing only half an hour before serving. You can scale up the quantities easily if you have a large crowd.