Wednesday, July 30, 2025

The Best Salads

 These are indeed days meant for cooling and easy to make salads.What's great about them s that they can be classic or innovative. Add whatever's in the fridge for a tasty lunch or dinner. A home chef can never go wrong with any combination.

Today's Wednesday's New York Times Wednesday Food section gives some very good recipes.Various Food section writers give their recipes for not only a bowl for great greens but also for dressings. An interesting note - salads have been around for 2,000 years having been first made by the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians . They were the first to dress various greens with oil and vinegar. Now it's' put in what;'s tasty and make it simple too. Any salad is the perfect meal during a heat wave or even a busy cooler day,.One of the most classics is Alexa Weibel's feta -ranch wedge salad. Wedge salad is taking an iceberg lettuce and cutting it into quarters. It;'s an American classic , being first created in the Forties. Ms. Weibel  also add refreshing cucumbers to this while the dressing is a classic ranch with the addition of briny feta. Layered salads are a perfect summer dinner option. Lidey Heucks' has a seven layer salad that features  everything from lettuce and tomatoes to frozen peas, hard boiled eggs and Cheddar. Then there is Hetty Lui McKinnon's gado-gado or Indonesian salad that has fried tofu mixed with hard boiled eggs ,cucumbers new potatoes ,Napa cabbage and bean. sprouts. It';s dressed in a sweet and tangy peanut satay sauce.

For heartier fare there is pork Laab from Sherry Rujikarn.,This is a hearty Laotian dish made with chopped pork and toasted rice powder. It's served with cabbage wedges and cucumbers, their coolness offsetting the zing of added chili peppers.There is also one of the best summer salads panzanella - bread salad with watermelon dressing.The dressing is unusual, a mix of the fruit and whole grain mustard along with red pepper flakes and garlic. The salad has day old ciambatta chunks but Italian bread also works well here too. There is also Greek salad again contributed by LIdey Heuck. This is classic Greek salad complete with feta cheese and the eye opening salty Kalamara olives. The feta is cut thick, all the better to absorb the simple red wine vinaigrette. There is no lettuce here,just tomatoes bell peppers, capers and a yellow or red onion cut into rings. Add anchovies  to make it a into a heartier meal and serve with pita wedges.It wouldn't;t be summer without a fruit salad and ALi Slagle gives one that is redolent with a mix of watermelon, pineapples , any Berry ,kiwi stome fruits, pomegranates and grapes. Like juice gives it a refreshing flavor along with  two tablespoons of sugar. It's a perfect palate cleanser or a nice dessert.

It;s summer .It's salad season. It's time to enjoy all the harvests, dressed deliciously, ready to eat on a scorching day,