Going green this summer can be as basic as putting romaine lettuce on a plate, drizzling on bottled dressing and picking up a fork.

But why settle for a simple salad when sophisticated takes only a bit more effort?

Need inspiration? Arrange slices of avocado with jicama and orange, toss field greens with shredded rotisserie chicken or garnish baby spinach leaves with fresh orange segments and toasted almonds. Grill a steak, slice it thinly and put it atop a bed of vine-ripened tomatoes and thinly sliced red onion with a drizzle of blue cheese dressing. Or sear tuna and add it to a salad with potato slices and black olives for a Nicoise.

OTHER BASES

Don't limit yourself to lettuce or greens as the base of your salad. Think wild rice, quinoa or farro as a potential base onto which you can build. If grains/grasses are your thing, drizzle chilled wild rice with an Asian vinaigrette and add flaked, poached salmon. Maybe cheese -- fresh mozzarella balls, tangy goat cheese balls rolled in chopped nuts or Parmesan fricos -- speaks to you. Or perhaps grilled vegetables or fresh herbs capture your interest.

Barbara Fairchild, author of The Bon Appetit Cookbook and editor-in-chief of Bon Appetit magazine, says it's easy to ``jazz up a simple salad (using) ingredients you probably already have on hand: toasted nuts -- walnuts, pine nuts, almonds -- all work well (as do) raisins or chopped dates, a sprinkling of dried cranberries.

When Fairchild moves beyond greens, she opts for thinly sliced fennel and red onion combined with summer fruit, such as sliced peaches, pluots or nectarines or pitted cherries. ``You would be surprised how well the fruit takes to a little drizzle of good olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt,'' she said. ``I love the full-out crunch of this one. This is also nice with sliced radishes added, or daikon radish.''

Another Fairchild favorite is mixed baby lettuces, sliced scallion tops, toasted salted almonds, avocado, thinly sliced blood orange and vinaigrette. ``Sometimes I make it a main course by adding small cooked shrimp, leftover roast chicken, or that great canned tuna packed in olive oil that is imported from Italy,'' she said.

For salads that require more than olive oil and salt, Fairchild likes to make an easy vinaigrette by shaking together one part mild vinegar or fresh lemon juice to two parts of good olive oil and a little dollop of Dijon mustard. ``I've done this with fresh lime, fresh tangerine, fresh blood orange juice, too -- really good,'' she said.

STORE BOUGHT

If time is a factor, you don't have to make your own dressing. When David Rosengarten, author of the award-winning cookbook Taste and a frequent guest on NBC-TV's Today show, has time, he makes his own French dressing; if not, he says he's happy to cheat and get it from the store.

``When I'm not thinking leafy greens, I think ethnic versions of chopped salad,'' he said. ``I do versions of it from all over the world. For an American salad, I'll chop into cubes some cucumber, celery, onion, green pepper, tomatoes. It then gets topped with old-fashioned French dressing. When I do a retro burger dinner, I'll serve the chopped salad on the side.''

For a Greek version of chopped salad, Rosengarten adds some lemon juice and fresh oregano. For an Indian version, he tosses the basic vegetables with garam masala, onion sambal and perhaps a bit of tamarind or lemon juice.

``You might want to throw some radish in your salad or fresh fennel in certain situations. You might include heart of cabbage chopped into little chunks,'' he said.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@