HOW TO MAKE AN INTERESTING SALAD • Stockland ✘ Jamie's Ministry of Food, episode 07

Presented by Stockland and Jamie's Ministry of Food.

‘Lettuce’ show you how!

Use fresh ingredients
A salad is only as good as its ingredients, and to make a truly great salad you’ve got to use ingredients that are at their best: ripe, seasonal and fresh.

A salad is more than just lettuce
If you think the world of salad is limited to watery iceberg lettuce and a few chopped tomatoes, shredded carrots or cucumber cubes, think again. There is an endless amount of wonderful combinations, and you can make a salad as simple or as complicated as you like. When making a salad, think about how the tastes and textures of your ingredients work together and the sort of dressing you want to use, so you end up with a delicious and exciting salad every time.

The base
The ingredient that forms the bulk of your salad is called the base. Most salads use greens like lettuce or spinach. Don’t think that you have to be restricted to lettuce for your salad base. You can make beautiful salads using new potatoes, couscous, lentils, shredded cabbage or any other robust, interesting vegetables – use your imagination and you’ll never be bored with salads.

Know your lettuces
When it comes to lettuce, there are many types - iceberg, coz, radicchio, butterhead, redleaf, oakleaf and more. Pick your favourite or choose your lettuce based on the colour of the leaf.

Once you’ve chosen your lettuce, remove the outer leaves and the core, then wash them in clean water.

Drain the lettuce in a colander or spin them in a salad spinner. Salad dressing sticks better to dry lettuce.

Experiment with herbs and crunch!
Add some beautiful soft herbs, something crunchy like nuts or croutons and maybe some delicious dairy.

Dress that salad!
You shouldn’t need an excuse to drizzle a nice dressing on your salad, but if you need one, the oils in dressings help your body absorb the nutrients. So a little salad dressing is actually healthy.

Check out this post on how to make a salad dressing.

Jamie’s Ministry of Food believes that by teaching people to cook for themselves and equipping them with some simple skills and food knowledge, communities are empowered to live healthier, happier lives. 

Visit our How-To Series for more easy to follow video guides and get back in the rhythm of creating simple, delicious, nutritious dishes for the whole family to enjoy.

Stockland ✘ Jamie's Ministry of Food • HOW-TO-SERIES