Sexy Salads.

                         On a family picnic. A rather large cheese salad for my baby brother!

I think it's quite clear from the expression on my face that I'm not overly enjoying my salad. When I was a child salad consisted of: lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and spring onions invariably served with salad cream, a boiled egg, a piece of cheese or a slice of ham.

Salads have come a long way since since then thankfully and since we're experiencing some good weather this week here in England I thought I'd share a few ideas.

I wrote a post recently which revealed that ready-made sauces are coming with a warning (from the companies who make them) that they should only be eaten once a week due to the high content of fat, sugar and salt. The same applies to salad dressings, even low fat (higher in sugar) ones. There are so many ready-made salad dressings on the supermarket shelves but they are unhealthy and expensive. All you need is a good bottle of olive oil, a bottle of white wine or cider vinegar and you can experiment with your own fresh ingredients from there.

One of the tastiest ways to serve lettuce is to crumble some strong blue cheese into the shredded leaves, drizzle with honey, add juicy sultanas and pieces of walnut (I break the walnuts into smallish pieces) add some mayonnaise (I make my own but if you find this too time consuming most supermarkets now stock organic mayonnaise). The natural saltiness of the cheese compliments the sweetness of the honey and sultanas and counteracts the blandness of the lettuce (you could also grate a crisp apple into the mix for extra sweetness). This is so easy to assemble and incredibly delicious to eat.

Place a selection of cut tomatoes in a colander and sprinkle with salt, this will draw out excess moisture. Leave for 15 minutes then discard any juice that has come out of them. Make a dressing using 1 part vinegar to 3 parts oil and drizzle over tomatoes.

I never understand people who say they don't like olives? If you find them slightly bitter make a marinade with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, 1 dessert spoon honey (I add garlic and chillies too) leave to marinate for a couple of hours before serving.

I love different salamis, so much tastier than boring ham. Look out for smoked salami with comte cheese in a black pepper coating or Salame Fiorentino flavoured with fennel seeds (you can place a few slices in a hot oven for 2-3 minutes and they will crisp up like bacon.....delicious)

                      Salami is a great accompaniment to olives, tomato salad and cornichons

I pinched this next idea from Nigella, buy mini nann breads drizzle olive oil over the surface, add sliced tomatoes (from your tomato salad) and goats cheese or mozzarella, season and bake in a very hot oven for 5 minutes.

                 All a bit more flavoursome and interesting than the salads of my youth

'Every salad you serve should be a picture you have painted, a sculpture you have modeled, a drama you have created.'
- Carol Truax

And what I might have said as a child.......

'It's been a pretty bad day, he said. No point making it worse with a salad.'
- Susan Juby

Love Donna xxxxxxxxx