Salad – seems basic but… – Real Food Real Cheap

Making a salad seems like a very basic operation, chop some lettuce, and some veg, mix and salad! Right. But if you buy a whole head of lettuce, then do you eat it all in one sitting, watch most wilt away in the fridge, or eat nothing but salad for the next three days?

I make what I call a dry salad, and it will last for a week or more properly stored. Contrary to what you see in the market, greens really don’t like being wet, they stand up out of the ground to shed water from their leaves to their roots.

What usually happens is you buy a head of lettuce that is wet from the “rain” in the market, and you stick it in that little bag in the produce bin, and there it sits … wet. You get one, maybe two salads from it. Or you buy the pre-cut greens in those little bins for 3X what a head would costs, that lasts longer because it is (gasp) dry. So making your own dry salad is more economical – and safer.

My basic salad mix is a combination of greens – romaine and spinach, with shredded carrots, and radishes – maybe some cabbage red or green.

I start with several romaine leaves – about half a head.

Making sure they are clean and well dried. Then I split them down the center.

Folding them over on themselves, and chop at angles. Nothing worse than digging into a bowl of salad and getting a huge chunk that you have to try to manhandle with a knife while trying not to drip dressing down your chin or all over the table.

I like romaine, the more robust leaves and the crunch of the white parts – I cut the stem parts into smaller bits and they really add crunch. Two textures in one product.

Next I un-bundle my spinach, sorting them into three stacks.

The baby leaves will be trimmed, and any damaged leaves or broken stems will be used for today’s meal.

I gather the smaller leaves together into a bundle.

The larger leaves are better for cooking, and will hold better, if ….

We treat them like fresh flowers. Put them in a cup of water on your counter.

I like radishes, they bring good flavor and nice crunch without much cost. Find bunches with nice green tops and with the spinach, basil and some nuts we have the base for a pesto.

Pinch the stem and twist off the radish.

Sort through your tops keeping the fresh healthy green leaves. Stemmy, wilted tops can go into the veg stock bucket.

Set aside the healthy green leaves for later use.

Top and tail your radishes, and I slice them on the single blade slit of my trusty box grater.

Peel a carrot, or two depending on size, into the stock bucket.

Shred on the large holes of the box grater.

Now for the storing. I usually have a bin that I keep my salad in most of the time, but it is still in a box waiting to be unpacked. For now I will line a large bowl with paper towel.

Top it with another paper towel and seal with plastic wrap. The wrap keeps the salad fresh, and the towels keep it dry.

Add any other things you want in your salad at the time of service. Tomatoes, cucumbers and other veg will make it too wet, and it will wilt and get soggy. Anything crunchy will absorb the moisture and lose it’s crunch, proteins will get mushy. This will keep nearly a week properly sealed – take out a handful and reseal.