It’s still May, but it has felt like early summer the last while with the weather being so pleasantly sunny and warm. It’s the perfect climate to offer main-course salad recipes you could serve for lunch or dinner.
I took a global approach and made those inspired by B.C., Italian, French and Japanese tastes.
I love caprese salad, the main ingredients of which — tomatoes, fresh cheese and basil — are simple and represent the colours of the Italian flag. It can make a lovely start to a meal, but I switched things up and turned it into a more filling main course.
I did that by presenting those key ingredients on a bed of romaine and adding prosciutto and olives. Serve the salad with crusty bread and a glass of B.C. pinot grigio and let the sun shine.
If you’ve visited France and had lunch at a café, you’ll have noticed that meal-sized salads are popular menu items. A classic is niçoise salad, and I’ve created a West Coast version of it by replacing the tuna and green beans often used with slices of B.C. smoked salmon nuggets and local asparagus. I also topped the salad with bits of tangy Salt Spring Island goat cheese, which is sold at most supermarkets.
Once on the plate, this version of niçoise salad will look like a lot of food. But it’s primarily vegetables, with the salmon, cheese and wedges of boiled egg being there just to ensure you don’t leave the table hungry.
This salad, too, would go great with crusty bread and, perhaps, a glass of B.C. rosé.
Japanese-style soba noodles, made from buckwheat flour, make a great base for salad. In my main course, I dressed up the noodles with such things as teriyaki sauce, ginger and crisp, raw vegetables.
On the plate, the dish needed just one more element. Because seafood is so popular in Japan, I topped the salad with quickly grilled scallops.
Feel free to adjust any of today’s salad recipes more to your liking, such as by using baby salad greens instead of romaine in the caprese salad, or prawns instead of scallops in the soba noodle salad.
Caprese Salad with Prosciutto and Romaine
This version of an Italian-style caprese salad is made more substantial by arranging the ingredients on a bed of chopped romaine and adding prosciutto and olives.
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: None
Makes: two servings
4 cups chopped romaine
8 cherry bocconcini cheese, each halved, or 5 to 6 slices mozzarella di bufala or fresh mozzarella cheese, each halved (see Note)
2 medium, ripe, on-the-vine tomatoes, sliced
12 to 16 black olives
8 to 12 whole fresh basil leaves, torn if large
4 to 6 long, paper-thin slices of prosciutto, each halved lengthwise
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, or to taste
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, or to taste
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Divide and arrange the romaine on two dinner plates. Arrange the cheese, tomatoes, olives and basil on the romaine. Now, loosely roll each half piece of prosciutto and divide and set them on the salads. Drizzle and sprinkle the salads with the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and serve.
Note: Cherry — small balls of — bocconcini cheese, mozzarella di bufala and fresh mozzarella cheese are sold in the deli section of supermarkets and at Italian food stores. The latter two cheeses are formed into a baseball-sized ball and sold in a tub or vacuum-sealed package.
West Coast-style Salad Niçoise
B.C. smoked salmon nuggets, Salt Spring Island goat cheese and local asparagus give this version of niçoise salad local flavour and flair.
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: About 12 minutes
Makes: four servings
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 medium garlic clove, minced
2 tsp Dijon mustard
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• pinch sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1 head butter lettuce, separated into leaves
2 medium red- or white-skinned potatoes, cubed, boiled until tender, drained and cooled
12 asparagus spears, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces and blanched (see Note)
1/4 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced
2 to 3 medium, ripe, on-the-vine tomatoes, or 3 to 4 Roma (plum) tomatoes, cut into small wedges
8 to 12 smoked salmon nuggets, thickly sliced (see Note)
100 grams Salt Spring Island goat cheese, pulled into small nuggets
1/2 cup niçoise or kalamata olives
4 medium or hard-boiled eggs, cooled, peeled and quartered
8 radishes, trimmed and sliced
Make salad dressing by placing the vinegar, garlic, mustard, salt, pepper, sugar and oil in a tight-sealing jar. Seal the jar and vigorously shake to combine. Divide and line four dinner plates with the butter lettuce leaves. Top and arrange the remaining ingredients on the lettuce. Drizzle each salad with dressing and serve.
Note: To blanch the asparagus, cook in boiling water for one minute. Drain well, cool in ice-cold water, and then drain well again. Smoked salmon nuggets are sold in the seafood section of most supermarkets. The ones used in the recipe were about five centimetres square.
Soba Noodle Salad With Grilled Scallops
The Japanese-style soba noodles used in this recipe are made with earthy-tasting buckwheat flour. In this main-course salad, teriyaki sauce, ginger, colourful vegetables and sweet-tasting scallops enhance their taste.
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes
Makes: two servings
For the scallops
8 to 10 large scallops, patted dry
2 tsp vegetable oil, plus some for the grill if needed
• salt and white pepper to taste
Preheat a barbecue or indoor grill to medium-high. Toss the scallops with the oil, salt and pepper. Lightly oil the grill, if prone to sticking. Grill the scallops one minute to 90 seconds per side, or until just cooked through. Set the scallops on a plate, cool to room temperature, cover and refrigerate until needed below.
For the salad
7 oz. (about 200 grams) dried soba noodles (see Note)
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce (I used Kikkoman brand)
1 tsp finely grated ginger
1⁄2 to 1 tsp Sriracha or hot Asian-style chili sauce, or to taste
2 tsp vegetable oil
1⁄2 cup grated carrot
1⁄2 cup chopped red bell pepper
12 to 16 snow peas, trimmed and thickly sliced
8 thin slices English cucumber, each halved
1 large green onion, thinly sliced
1/3 to 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
Cook the noodles in a generous amount of boiling water until just tender, about five minutes or per package instructions.
While the noodles cook, place the remaining ingredients, except scallops, in a medium bowl.
When the noodles are cooked, drain them well, cool in ice-cold water and drain well again. Add them to the bowl of other ingredients and toss to combine.
Divide the noodles between two dinner plates, top with scallops and serve.
Note: Dried soba noodles are sold in the Asian-foods aisle of some supermarkets and at Japanese food stores. The package I bought contained eight, 100-gram bundles of soba noodles. I used what I needed for this recipe and kept the rest for another time.
