A friend was telling me the other day how she hated salads as a
child. She grew up in Pennsylvania, where the main lettuce
available
– especially in the winter – was iceberg. Not only that, the
family had to eat all the same salad because it was dressed in a
big bowl all at once.
A friend was telling me the other day how she hated salads as a child. She grew up in Pennsylvania, where the main lettuce available – especially in the winter – was iceberg. Not only that, the family had to eat all the same salad because it was dressed in a big bowl all at once.
Worst of all, my friend’s chore as a girl was to separate the head of iceberg and wash the leaves under running water. She came to dread the feeling of the cold water dripping past her wrists, down her arms and into the crooks of her elbows.
After she left home, she never made salad for herself and only grudgingly for special occasions.
Then along came bagged salads, which made a salad-eater out of my friend. And I’m beginning to see the point myself.
The penny-pincher in me has disdained bagged salads for years, finding it odd to pay several dollars for a bag of what costs less than one dollar if bought in head form. Most of the time the effort needed to separate, rinse, spin and dry lettuce leaves seemed acceptable.
But sometimes we would buy head lettuce only to have it sit in the refrigerator, unwashed, unloved and uneaten, slowly decomposing into unappetizing slime. No economy here.
Bagged salads are already washed, dried and torn into serving pieces, so you really only have to dump them into serving bowls. Even better, many combine a variety of lettuces and other greens that would require a lot of separate purchases to assemble from scratch.
I was near a Trader Joe’s the other day and picked up a few from their selection: Organics Herb Salad Mix; Very American Salad including iceberg, romaine and red cabbage; and Baby Spinach with cranberries, candied pecans, Miner’s blue cheese and raspberry vinaigrette.
The herb salad mix contains 12 different organic greens including romaine, oak leaf lettuce, chard, plus parsley, cilantro and dill. Through the cellophane bag, they look extremely delicate and tender, so the dressing recipe on the bag is ideal in containing light citrus flavors that won’t overwhelm the delicate greens:
Trader Joe’s Lemon Shallot Vinaigrette
3 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 orange
1 large shallot finely minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Whisk all ingredients together and serve with mixed greens.
The bag of greens also recommends adding orange segments, julienned jicama, shelled pistachios and crumbled goat cheese.
That sounds good, but I would also like to try it with clementine segments and walnuts.
The iceberg, romaine and red cabbage bag didn’t come with any dressing recipes. But as I munched on the sturdy crisp leaves, I thought it would do well with an equally assertive dressing, such as blue cheese or ranch. You can buy good ranch dressing, but truly chunky cheese blue cheese dressing is another matter. Here is a recipe from the new Gourmet cookbook:
Blue Cheese Dressing
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbs. finely chopped fresh chives
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 – 2 Tbs. milk or water
Whisk together the first seven ingredients in a small bowl and thin to desired consistency with milk.
This salad is perfect served in individual bowls and drizzled with dressing, rather than tossed.