

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The Art of Salad Making



Reading Raw Food Real World by Sarma Melngalis taught me how to balance flavors and textures, after a few weeks of using her techniques all I ever wanted to eat was salad--at least one massive one a day. Obviously I can't copy the amazing passage on salad making directly, but I will leave you with a few great quotes and a summary of the advice. Read the book for more info and recipes.

"We think salads are a great opportunity for creativity because you can easily combine many ingredients, and because you can unite so many varying textures and flavors and get them all in one bite...Constructing salads is easy but keep in mind that some factors do apply to making a great salad. Think of them as vegetable sundaes..." Raw Food Real World page 99.


Aim to have a delicate balance of:
- acid/citrus
-tart/bitter with sweet
-chewy/crunchy with smooth
-salty/watery or juicy ingredients--celtic sea salt tends to balance and intensify flavors in recipes.


For one of my favorite salads look here, for one of Sarma's favorites look here. (I was really into raw a while back, but I found that I needed more balance in my life although clearly I enjoy raw food.)



Which brings me to my third tip. Limit your salads to one or two fatty items, such as avocado (which I encourage you to try until you love. It took me a long time, but they are amazing for you! To start, make sure they are the perfect ripeness (too hard and they taste like soap) and spread them on whole grain toast--then tell me you don't love them!) cheese, nuts, or dressing. Although when you are starting don't worry too much about the dressing, if it makes you love salad and it is made of high quality ingredients, you should digest it seamlessly. That being said you need at least one fat to keep you full and to digest the fat soluble vitamins in vegetables. Fat is really essential to feel all the amazing effects of the nutrients you are consuming.


Tip four, add sweet, juicy and chewy and you will be diving in for more. When I started adding mango to my salad, I couldn't get enough. Juicy fruits like mango, kiwi and grapefruit makes salads refreshing, hydrating and uber delicious.
Apples and pears make them crunchy and hearty.




Start with your leafy base
-add protein of choice
-add fat






Chop't Ten Vegetable iceberg lettuce, grilled asparagus, green peas, hearts of palm, carrots, broccoli, beets, white mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatoes and corn we recommend chop't secret house blend









Final notes: The salad above is a mix of all kinds of romaines and rainbow chards, carrots, snow peas, kiwi, a sprinkle of pure food and wine cheesy raw crackers (to make it more fun for you guys), cucumber, and cherry tomatoes. After I dressed it lightly with Newman's Light Honey Dijon. I served it fage mixed with cinnamon and strawberries.


Leslie said...

You are SO sweet and I can't wait to read this post! :)

Nicole said...

This post was so informative! You are right, it is an art. I've tried the green tea yogurt, while, I didn't like it, it really had more to do with the fact that I don't like greek type yogurts than the actual yogurt itself. It's a very mild flavor, so if you like fage, I am sure you will like it as well. I don't like fage.

Since you eat a mostly (maybe completely?) vegetarian lifestyle and are health conscious do you cook your own veggie burgers, soups,granola bars etc? I always feel guilty purchasing pre-packaged veggie burgers, granola bars etc knowing that I should be making them myself, rather than buy artificial stuff. If not, which brands do you recommend? I know people love kashi, but they put so much soy in all their products, which I am allergic to :(

Lisa said...

Those books look interesting, what made you decide to be a raw foodist (or at least so into it)? How did your family react? My family does not totally accept my decision to be a vegetarian.

Melissa said...

Hi Lisa,

I don't make my own veggie burgers or granola bars.

I have never been a big fake meat person. I recently tried eggplant burgers by Dominex, they were pretty good but they do have soy. Maybe you can find a restaurant or store that has grain-based veggie burgers and ask to buy several to freeze. Hungry-girl had a homemade veggie burger up yesterday, maybe you could try that recipe.

My favorite non-soy bars are lara, think organic and gnu.

Thanks for the heads up on the yogurt!

Lisa-I became interested in raw food (I'm not a raw foodist)when I took a job as a hostess at Pure Food and Wine. I wasn't a vegetarian than and had no intention of becoming one. However, a few months in I had done enough reading about the health myths of the meat industry put out by sponsoring goverment organizations, the horrible treatment of animals, and the effects of huge farms on the enviroment,plus how amazing a plant based diet could be. So I stopped eating all meats and most dairy. Now that I don't work there it is harder to eat tons of raw. I also added fish. I try to be very particular about researching my dairy sources, but I should do better.

I haven't lived with my family for a long time, so they weren't very effected by it. It bothers me that they don't have options for me on holidays, but I make a delicious veggie dish for everyone. I don't preach my beliefs, unless provoked, in which case a few lines from Diet for a New America shuts everyone up.

Nicole said...


I read your answer to the post below as well, that's really interesting and cool that you worked at a raw food restaurant- I doubt my city even has a raw food restuarant!

Thanks for the bar suggestions. I guess my question also was do you feel guilty buying prepackaged items? I always do even though I really am not that into cooking, it's just all processed foods put so many additives and preservatives in them-even the natural food brands!