A sunny collection of summer salads
A sunny collection of summer salads
PART 1: Salads
Dear Melanie,
I have a collection of recipes for you today. As I write to you, the sun grows ever-warmer (finally!), and the farmers market on the weekend was filled with an abundance of produce: tomorrow is the first day of summer!
To celebrate summer, I’ve been saving up a series of sunny salads and cheerful letters that I thought you might enjoy.
I know that salads sound like a very simple thing to include in a series of recipes. Almost too simple, you might think. But the stories! The stories why these particular salads mean so much to the people who shared them in letters… they are why I want to share them with you today.
I’m going to make each of these salads for a summer picnic. Melanie, would you like to join me? Shall we picnic together?
(Rather than ask you to replicate these recipes, I was wondering if you’d be willing to share one or two of your favourite salads?)
Insalata caprese from Asher in Australia
First is a recipe from Asher in Australia, who writes on a winter’s evening about a summer salad. In her letter, Asher confesses she doesn’t normally like cooking and almost didn’t participate in Meals in the Mail. She also considered submitting a G&T, which wouldn’t have been the worst outcome.
But she shares, instead, a salad that was the harbinger of true love.
It’s the salad she made on the first meal she would share with her future husband, a classic caprese salad of tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and basil. (This is also one that I used to eat for late supper every night during a week spent in Milan, many moons ago).
“Sunday night, July 9 2017, In my study with the Kyoto candle burning,” Asher's letter begins. “The recipe I send you this evening is one I made 15 years ago as part of a meal I prepared for friends at a dinner party in Elizabeth Bay Sydney. I had spontaneously invited a workmate to join my friends that evening - little did I know that three years later he would become my husband. The insalata caprese has become a summer go-to recipe for me as it is so simple yet elegant.”
Recipe: Insalata Caprese
INGREDIENTS:
250g buffalo mozzarella, sliced 1cm thick
2 large vine-ripened room temperature tomatoes, sliced 1cm thick
1/4 cup of olive oil
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 cup of fresh basil leaves
ground salt & pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS:
On a large serving platter, alternate sliced tomatoes, mozzarella and salad leaves in a circular motion till done. Drizzle with oil and balsamic and top off with salt and pepper.
Caesar salad dressing from Reagan in Canada
The next letter is not for the salad itself, but the dressing. It’s for caesar salad - another classic. Reagan in Canada sent it to me, in an envelope decorated with a drawing of lettuce, an earthenware salad bowl and a striped linen tea-towel, all of which she said was a united artistic effort from her family.
What I love about this recipe is that it was the result of a mystery - a treasure-hunt for flavours. Have you ever done this yourself Melanie? Here’s a section of Reagan’s letter:
“My Mum and Dad used to meet for dinner once every two weeks (pay day!) after work, at a place about half way between their offices, called the 4th Street Rose. They loved their Caesar salad, but no one there would ever hint at the recipe besides saying there was Worcestershire sauce in it. My Mum said she would try to replicate it at home from other recipes’ ingredient lists, but it never tasted right even with her ‘tweaks’.
“They happened to eat at another restaurant one day - Chianti’s - and the Caesar salad was the closest to 4th Street Rose’s that they had tasted. My Mum was able to get some hints on the recipe from their waitress, plus they sold it by the jar - so she got one to take home and continued her experiment!
“This is the salad dressing she settled on - the measurements are kind of guesstimates, as it was one of those things I grew up making with her so regularly. Just kind of throw everything in without measuring! Hers still tastes better, especially when enjoyed with the rest of a home cooked meal, at the table with the whole family!”
Recipe: The Caesar salad dressing experiment
STEP 1:
2 egg. yolks
2 cloves garlic, minced
Blend this together until the egg yolk is a little “frothy.”
STEP 2:
6 drops Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice
1 inch of anchovy paste*, squeezed from the tube
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded or grated
Add all these and blend up, the dressing will be like a paste at this point.
STEP 3:
Mild-flavoured oil (I use avocado): no measurement - just until thickened up the way you like it.
Add the oil slowly while blending (if you have an emulsion blender). If not, I’ve thrown about 1/4 cup at a time and lended it like that and it’s been fine.
* (I often don’t have anchovy paste and make this dressing without it - not authentic caesar I guess, but no-one seems to notice!)
Sunny salad from Helene in France
Helene sent her recipe on a sweet little postcard with an illustration from a children’s book on the front - a woman decorating pink cake in a rustic, oversized kitchen. It’s a hearty salad, featuring rice and chickpeas alongside the surprising but welcome flavours of nectarines, grapefruit and tomatoes.
Helene says, simply, “Inspired by summertime,” and invites us, “Would you like to taste this?”
Yes, actually, I would!
Recipe: Sunny Salad
PREPARE:
Cold cooked rice
Cold cooked & peeled chickpeas
Peeled & diced tomatoes, nectarines & grapefruit
Then gently pour them in your favourite bowl. Add finely chopped leaves of basil and peppermint. Mix smoothly and add a pinch of aromatic table salt and a drop of olive oil. Serve cool and share happy!
Tomato salad from Jackie in Canada
This salad feels a little Greek in flavours, featuring tomatoes and feta cheese with a mix of herbs to taste: basil, oregano and thyme are suggested, but Jackie says dill and garlic are her favourite herbal accompaniments.
Her letter is full of sweet puns and cute drawings, tucked into a sunny, yellow envelope.
Jackie gives her salad a poetic name: “Dad’s ‘Di-Vine’ Tomato Salad" and writes, “This yummy salad is a cherished family favourite! Dad has a ‘green’ thumb. He grows the most flavour-full and di-vine tomatoes. Dad is a super cook/gardener. We ‘grown’ up kids adore Dad’s home-cooked meals! We don’t ever have a complete and proper visit, without this salad being served. If you love tomatoes, especially fresh garden ones - you will love this salad as much as we do!”
Recipe: Dad’s “Di-Vine” Tomato Salad
Step 1:
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1/2 - 1 cup feta (depends how “cheesy” you are!)
Crumble cheese on top of chopped tomatoes
Step 2 (dressing):
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white vinegar
You can add these herbs to taste:
2 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
4 cloves garlic
Or my favourite version:
2 tsp fresh dill
chopped garlic to taste
Step 3:
Combine oil, vinegar, herbs of choice (dill 😊), garlic to taste in a tight lidded jar. Shake well.
Dressing can be made away or two ahead. Pour dressing over tomatoes / feta. Yummm!
Mustard vinaigrette from Kate in the USA
Kate got this recipe from her mother, who first had it from someone called Claudia. I’ll share Kate’s story about this in a minute but first, I want to talk about what I love so much in her story. It was a simple but powerful moment in which Kate discovered confidence in the kitchen, a trust in her innate ability to know flavours.
I’ll let Kate tell you the story in her own words.
“This is the recipe that taught me to trust myself in the kitchen. I would dutifully take out the recipe card every time I made it, scrupulously measuring each ingredient. Then, just before we left for a potluck to which I’d promised to bring this exact design, I misplaced the card. Panic ensued, and I frantically called my mother, who had obtained it in the first place from Claudia herself.
“Quick aside - Claudia is a chemist and an incredible cook. She throws this ‘recipe’ together all the time and never measures. My mother, God bless her, does not do improvisation, so she asked Claudia to be more specific and include measurements.
“Well, as I was saying, frantic phone calls ensued, but no one picked up. I was just me and the Grey Poupon…" [Melanie - I had to look up what this was - turns out it’s a brand of Dijon mustard]. "...I took a deep breath and mixed a little bit of this and a little of that together and tasted, adjusted, and tasted again.
"It worked! I was free from the anxiety of a lost recipe and had gained a newfound confidence in my own abilities. Of course I found the recipe in the end, so here it is. I hope you enjoy it - but don’t be afraid to experiment!"
And one last thing: Kate decorated her recipe with beautiful, vibrant watercolour illustrations of the ingredients. It’s a keeper.
Recipe: Claudia’s mustard vinaigrette
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 cup raw apple cider vinegar
2 heaping tbsp sugar
salt & pepper
1 cup corn on grapeseed oil
snipped herbs (optional)
Slowly add mustard to the vinegar and whisk together. Add sugar, salt and pepper. Add oil and snipped herbs, if you have them. Store in a small mason jar.
Happy munching,
Naomi x