A person can get stuck in her ways about what constitutes a good salad. Last time we were in Oklahoma for a family visit, my cousin Marge had everyone over for dinner. Would I like some salad? I’d love some, I said. What was I to do with the green Jello she then placed in front of me?
I had forgotten about that kind of salad, but here it was, chock-full of little chips of grated carrot and crushed pineapple from a can. You can get the recipe on the Betty Crocker website. The nation had not yet been riven by that last presidency, but I was proudly on the side of the family that had stopped dedicating a whole shelf in the refrigerator door to a collection of bottles of Ranch and Thousand Island.
People like me pretend to be happy with a bowl full of lettuce dressed with nothing more than a squeeze of lemon, a pour of olive oil, and a few pinches of salt. But the restaurant people have us figured out: we’re the ones who will order the wedge. We are bored with our own house salads. Maybe Marge had a point.
Our friend (and faithful Indie proofreader) Kristen Henley-Hills pulled us out of the salad doldrums a couple of weeks ago when she delivered a deadline care package of grilled chicken with a creamy green sauce that we put on everything we ate until the jar was scraped clean.
It’s her version of ají verde, originally a Peruvian concoction that features cilantro, garlic, jalapeño, and lime. She whirls the herbs into a sour-cream base and notes you don’t have to be in the cilantro camp to make this stuff. Just use dill, basil, or parsley — any combination of fresh soft herbs.
In honor of Marge, I’m calling it green goddess and adding dollops to crisp lettuce and sliced tomatoes, eating it by the spoonful, and calling it this year’s salad of the summer.
There are other ways to expand on green salad. Last summer we stopped eating lettuce at a certain point and turned to cucumbers instead. The best rendition in my recipe box starts with cold cucumber slices, salted, then rinsed. They’re dressed with a slightly sweet rice-wine-vinegar dressing spiked with red onion, pepper flakes, and chopped peanuts. It’s a cilantro-optional salad.
French green lentils — they’re greener and firmer than the ones you know from your winter soup — make another and more substantial kind of green salad. The version my friend Ellen Lubell gave me 20 years ago is still the favorite around here. It’s got some flavors that no eaters guess: a little sweetness from Zante currants and a salty bite from capers.
The dressing for the lentils also has a mysterious heat about it, the result of a long list of spices. Don’t let that list put you off. All of the spices can be found at Atlantic Spice or at the Frontier Herbs counter at the Orleans Whole Food Store. Get enough to make this a few times during the salad season.
Green Goddess Dressing
Makes a half pint
Note: You can use a mixture of mayo and Greek yogurt if you don’t have sour cream. And for the herbs, cilantro and parsley are the usual but use any combination of fresh soft herbs you like. Use less jalapeño if you want the sauce less spicy.
½ cup sour cream
1 cup packed cilantro and parsley leaves
1 jalapeño pepper, chopped (remove the ribs and seeds first)
1 chopped garlic clove
½ tsp. kosher or sea salt
Pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. lime juice
Put all the ingredients in a small food processor or small high-speed blender and whirl until the dressing is smooth. If you have only a big appliance, double the recipe — otherwise the herbs don’t blend in well. Serve alongside grilled chicken, slather on sliced tomatoes, or add dollops to crisp lettuce leaves.
Spicy Cucumber Salad
Makes 4 servings
3 summer cucumbers
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
½ cup rice-wine vinegar
½ cup water
3 Tbsp. sugar
Pinch hot red pepper flakes
2 Tbsp. minced red onion
2 Tbsp. finely chopped roasted salted peanuts
2 Tbsp. minced cilantro (optional)
- Slice cukes in half lengthwise then cut them crosswise about a quarter-inch thick. Put the slices in a colander and toss with the salt. Cover with a layer of ice and let them sit in the sink (or over a bowl) for an hour.
- Make the dressing: combine the vinegar, water, sugar, and red pepper flakes in a small saucepan and boil down until it gets syrupy — you should have about one-third cup. Let cool.
- Rinse the salt off the cucumbers with cold water, pat them dry, and put them in your salad bowl. Mince the onion and toss it in, chop the peanuts and do the same. Ditto the cilantro, if you like it. Pour on the dressing and toss.
Green Lentil Salad
Makes 8 servings
1 lb. French green lentils
1 cup Zante currants
1/3 cup capers
¾ cup olive oil
½ cup red-wine vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. kosher or sea salt
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. dry mustard
½ tsp. ground mace
½ tsp. ground coriander
½ tsp. ground cardamom
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
¼ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
- Put the lentils in a large saucepan and add water to cover them by several inches. Simmer until they’re tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Don’t let them get mushy. Drain in a colander and let cool.
- Put the lentils in a big salad bowl. Chop the onion and add it and the currants to the lentils. Stir in the oil and vinegar, then the salt, pepper, and other spices.
- Serve at room temperature. Keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.
