Salad

This salad is especially good made with peppers roasted over a wood or charcoal fire.

Steaming is one of the simplest and most nutritious ways to cook vegetables. It is an especially good method to capture the delicate flavors of tender young vegetables such as turnips and turnip greens, carrots and carrot tops, peas and pea shoots, green beans, cauliflower, beets, and spinach. After cooking, the vegetables can be seasoned lightly with salt and perhaps a squeeze of lemon juice, or flavored with various vinegars, olive oil or butter, or a sauce.

Garlic vinaigrette is the dressing I make most often. The quantities that follow are only an approximate guide because garlics, vinegars, and oils vary so much in strength and intensity. The first step in making a vinaigrette is to macerate garlic in vinegar and salt. The vinegar softens the raw taste of the garlic, and the salt tames the sharp edge of the vinegar. Sometimes I like to mix different kinds of vinegar; a few drops of balsamic vinegar can temper a wine vinegar that’s too strong. Taste for balance and adjust by adding more salt or vinegar; it should be neither too salty nor too acidic. The mixture should taste delicious by itself.

This is a salad that David Chang (page 80) made in the Green Kitchen. David’s cooking often applies traditional Asian flavorings and methods to the foods of this continent. This salad is similar to a tomato and mozzarella salad, but it is quite different and surprising in its combination of flavors.

Farro is a delicious, nutty-tasting whole grain with a flavor like a cross between wheat berries and barley. It cooks quickly (almost as fast as rice) and can be served boiled, plain, or marinated in a salad; or it can be prepared in the same way as a risotto. I usually cook 1 1/2 cups of farro at a time. I serve half of it warm as a side dish and the other half the next day as a salad.

Tabbouleh is a Lebanese salad made with bulgur wheat, chopped herbs, and tomatoes. It is a spectacular salad, green and fresh, with more herbs than grain. Bulgur wheat is made from wheat grains that have been parboiled or steamed and then dried. It requires only quick cooking or soaking.

This makes an exciting salad for the middle of winter.

French green lentils or black Beluga lentils are the best varieties to use for lentil salads because they have lots of flavor and they hold their shape when cooked.

There are many varieties of cucumbers, each with its own flavor and texture. I especially like Armenian, Japanese, and lemon cucumbers.

Fennel makes a very delicate salad when sliced paper-thin. It can be difficult to cut the fennel very thin with a knife, so instead I reach for my plastic Japanese mandoline. But watch your fingertips and use the guard!

This salad tastes best when the carrots have time to marinate and absorb the flavors of the spices.

My daughter always loved this salad and I would often make a tiny version for her lunch and change the shapes for variety: grated, thin curls (cut with a peeler), matchsticks, or slices.

Use green cabbage, red cabbage, savoy cabbage, or napa cabbage. Each one is tasty, and each will make a slightly different salad.

Yellow potatoes such as Yellow Finn and Yukon Gold have very good flavor and texture for potato salad. Don’t use baking potatoes such as russets; they will fall apart.

Serve this winter salad alongside other little salads, such as marinated beets, carrot salad, or arugula salad.

This composed salad is based on a recipe from Provence. It makes a delightful lunch or light dinner. The summer vegetables are set off by the piquant anchovies and rich hard-cooked egg.

Leeks are at their best in the cold months, when lettuce is scarce. Dressed with this mustardy vinaigrette, they make a bright winter salad.

Beets of different colors make a very beautiful salad. Dress the red ones separately so their color doesn’t bleed all over the others.

Look for all the different colors, sizes, and flavors of tomatoes at the farmers’ market all through tomato season—July, August, and September. Mix them together, sliced or wedged, for a strikingly beautiful salad.