If I had my way a word I’ve been searching for as an excuse to type a sentence for at least eight years I would never choose a salad with lettuce in it over one that’s mostly shaved or grated raw greens. I mean lettuce—the dewy fresh-picked stuff that’s available at your local farmers market for a few months each year—can be absolutely delicious but nine times out of ten the same word is used for that packaged stuff that doesn’t taste like much. And can we talk about that prematurely rotten red leaf that no bag of mesclun is ever without? Clearly I’ve spent an unnatural amount of time on this. But in a world full of avocado salads broccoli salad pumpkin carrot salads with harissa feta and mint or tahini and crispy chickpeas chopped salads with lime sunflower seeds and radishes ground peas with sesame dressing and fennel with blood oranges* I have found little reason to pray only at the salad altar of young lamb's lettuce.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 smitten kitchen | 2021-06-16 12:00:19 |  104,478 Views |
How to Make Broccoli Salad | Smitten Kitchen with Deb Perelman
Ever since I made one of my favorite salads to date the broccoli slaw I’ve wanted to make a cauliflower slaw to go with it and I know this because I’ve put it on my extensive To Cook list at least five times. I knew I wanted it to be “mayo-free” with a “sharp lemon dressing.” I knew I wanted “little dried currants” in it and that I might soak/swell them in the dressing for a while so they added more than just sweetness. I knew it had to have well-toasted almonds like the broccoli slaw and that I wouldn’t mind capers especially if they were crunchy. But I couldn’t figure out the texture — I was convinced that thinly sliced cauliflower would be nothing more than a pile of rubble but not in a pretty way. And then a few months ago a cauliflower salad appeared on the menu at my favorite West Village restaurant Barbuto (which also brought us this kale salad ) and to my delight it had many of the elements of the cauliflower salad I’d been dreaming of — theirs with raisins hazelnuts and an unholy amount of olive oil — and the cauliflower was thinly sliced on an adjustable-blade slicer and it was perfect. Sure there was some debris but there were just as many beautifully intact slices and I wanted to go home and make it right away.
And then I moved. And then I went on vacation. And then my son started preschool. And then we had two birthday parties for him in one weekend. And if you’re one of those people who can still whip up creative healthy meals even when life gets crazy busy I envy you. I want you to teach me your ways. But for me as usual this meant a significant delay between idea and action and me cursing myself for taking so long to get this into my stomach. This salad is bright crunchy a little tart sometimes tangy-sweet and never bland leafy or boring. It’s perfect for a work lunch and please don’t make the mistake I did and only make one serving. It won’t last long. Make two. Plan ahead. Maybe share some with me? I’m already through.
* and that's just from the AF in the salad archives. If you're looking for more inspiration there are 100 more salad recipes in the archives (here you go) so I guess Homer Simpson was wrong when he said "You don't make friends with salad!"
