Jennifer Chandler - Simply Salads: More than 100 Delicious Creative Recipes Made from Prepackaged Greens and a Few Easy-to-Find Ingredients

Copyright 2006 by Jennifer Chandler All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Triple Hearts and Riviera are trademarks of Fresh Express, a subsidiary of Chiquita Brands, LLC. Just Lettuce is a registered trademark of Dole Food Company, Inc. None of the registered trademarks identified has endorsed this book or any recipe in this book. Published by Rutledge Hill Press, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc.,
P.O.

Box 141000, Nashville, Tennessee 37214. Rutledge Hill Press books may be purchased in bulk for educational,
business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information,
please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chandler, Jennifer, 1970
Simply salads / Jennifer Chandler ; photography by Langdon Clay.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4016-0320-5
ISBN-10: 1-4016-0320-3
1. I. I.

Title.
TX740.C3855 2007
641.8'3--dc22 2006031264 Printed in the United States of America 06 07 08 09 105 4 3 2 1 dedicated
to Paul, Hannah,
and Sarah contents Packaged salad blends have changed the way I enjoy salads. With all the varieties of greens now available at the grocery store, it has never been easier to make a great and tasty salad. Dozens of pre-washed salad blends allow the home cook the ease and convenience of picking the perfect mixture for their salad without all the hassle. I cant remember the last time I purchased a head of leaf lettuce or sifted through a big pile of wilting mesclun greens searching for the freshest ones. Specialty greens such as arugula and mache, once only enjoyed in restaurants, have found their way to my dining table. Before bagged blends, I would have never bought four different types of lettuce just to make the perfect blend for a salad for just my husband and me.

Now there are more than fifty different combinations of lettuces, packaged in just the right size, from which to choose. Whoever decided to make these blends ready-to-eat was a genius in my book. Cleaning all the sand and dirt out of fresh spinach is an inconvenience I have not experienced since I found the pre-washed packaged variety. And, assuming I could find it in the back of a cabinet, I can guarantee that my salad spinner has a layer of dust on it. To turn a simple salad into a spectacular dish, just add your favorite ingredients. The possibilities are infinite when it comes to the salad creations that you can make.

Now you can try your favorite restaurant salad at home or experiment with tastes from other countries. A salad can be so much more than just a precursor to a meal or a bland diet food. Dishes made from leafy greens can make a delicious, and healthy, main attraction of any meal. For a hearty meal, just add your favorite protein. Top the salad with a warm piece of grilled meat or fish. If you prefer a cold salad, combine shredded, chilled chicken with the greens.

Toss in some of your favorite veggies, fruits, or nuts to add different tastes and textures. Crumbled or grated cheeses also make flavorful additions. Thanks to the conveniences of the bags, I enjoy a delicious salad at home almost every day. My wish is that this book inspires you to get creative in the kitchen and eat great salads often! Enjoy! RULE #1 (AND THE ONLY RULE): EXPERIMENT! These recipes are meant to be guidelines to show you how to turn a bag of greens into a spectacular dish. The beauty of composing a salad is that there really are no rules. I encourage you to make substitutions or changes to create your own original, delicious dish.

For each salad, I listed the salad blend that I thought went well with other ingredients. You can easily substitute almost any salad blend for another. Pick your favorite blends and use them. If your grocery is out of Triple Hearts salad blend, for example, pick up a bag of Hearts of Romaine instead. If Spring Mix is your absolute favorite, use it all the time. I make my salad dressings from scratch 99 percent of the time.

Why buy bottled dressing when it is so easy to make your own? A wonderful dressing can easily be whipped up in seconds. Most dressing ingredients are staples that you probably have in your kitchen right now. Homemade dressings are also a lot cheaper than the bottled versions, and there is no waste since you make only the amount you need. Most dressing recipes in this book make enough to evenly coat the salad. Dress your salads to your taste. If you like a lightly dressed salad, dont use all the dressing.

If you prefer salad with your dressing, double the recipe. But, if you dont want to make your own dressing, dont feel guilty. Packaged saladsand all my recipesare about conveniently putting a healthy, delicious meal on the table. Use your favorite bottled dressingsand yes, I have one I keep in the fridge for that 1 percent of the timewhen you want. You may not find the exact duplicate, but you can come close to substituting every dressing in this book at your local supermarket. The most important key to delicious salads is to use the best ingredients.

Always buy the freshest produce and, when possible, use locally grown products. Invest in a good extra virgin olive oil and flavorful vinegars. Quality ingredients will ensure perfectly scrumptious salads. Convenient, healthy, and tasty. Thats the simplest way to describe the phenomenon of packaged salad blends. They are an easy way to enjoy a healthy and tasty saladwhether you are in the mood for a blend of traditional lettuces such as Romaine or iceberg or a gourmet blend of baby greens.

Since they were first introduced in the late 1980s, purchasing prewashed, precut packaged salads has become the norm. Today Americans are eating almost thirty pounds of lettuce per year; most of that comes out of a bag. Innovative companies are doing all the hard work for us. Everything they do, from growing, harvesting, cleaning, packaging, and delivering, is designed to give us fresh salads for our tables. From a taste perspective, the home cook can now serve exciting, restaurant-style blend salads for dinner every day. From a health perspective, baby greens are not only delicious but more nutritious than the traditional salads made from only iceberg or romaine lettuces.

HOW TO SELECT SALAD BLENDS Available in either bags or clamshell packaging, salad blends are stored in the refrigerated area of the supermarkets produce section. On the front of each package, the salad is stamped with a Best if used by date. Even though manufacturers say the salad should still be good on that date, my experience has been that salads tend to start going bad a few days prior to that date. My general rule of thumb is to purchase salad blends with best by dates a minimum of three days away. For example, if the listed date is June 6, dont buy it after June 3. Ideally, try to find blends with dates at least five days out.

Dont be shy about looking toward the back of the display case for fresher bags. In addition to looking at the date, also look at the salad to make sure it appears fresh. The packaging is see-through so you can get a good look at the product. If the lettuce shows signs of aging or mishandling (such as limp or wilted leaves with brown or yellow edges or dark, slimy spots) or is excessively wet, do not purchase that package. STORING SALAD BLENDS Manufacturers of salad blends have developed unique packaging that helps ensure a just-picked freshness and crispness of salads without the use of preservatives. Salad blends should be kept refrigerated in their original bags until use.