Winter Spoon Salad.Julie Van Rosendaal/The Globe and Mail
The subject of salad tends to evoke an image of leafy greens, likely piled in a bowl with other crunchy things to stab with your fork, tossed and tied together with a mayo-y dressing or puckery vinaigrette.
In truth, there is no formula to a salad, no guidelines to follow. A salad can be made of anything: It can be vegetables or fruits, meat or grains. Noodles can be a salad, and so can tuna. Marshmallows can be a salad. Salads are usually cold, but can be hot; their components can be raw or cooked. A reasonable definition might be a combination of ingredients chopped into pieces small enough to be tossed together – but then there’s the composed salad, with ingredients arranged on a platter or plate. A salad is the best kind of culinary chaos, that of which presents an opportunity to play with flavours and textures, and to use what you have.
The best salads are studies in contrast: crisp and crunchy, soft and chewy, sweet, salty, earthy, briny, fatty, toasty. Having a few building blocks in your fridge – perhaps some bouncy cooked barley and soft cooked lentils, which take well to a simple marinade of grainy mustard, vinegar and vegetable oil while they’re still warm – makes it easy to build a salad for one, two or five. The only common denominator seems to be a dressing – anything from a simple drizzle of oil or squeeze of lemon to the creamy mayo that binds eggs, tuna or chicken together into a salad substantial enough to put between sliced bread.
In the bleak midwinter, when imported and greenhouse-grown leafy greens are available but not as plentiful as they are during the salad days of summer, a sturdy, wilt-proof mix of chopped brassica veggies such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage gets better with time spent in the fridge. Chopping everything into bits small enough to scoop and eat by the spoonful allows for maximum variety in each mouthful – a greater range of bits than you’d be able to stab on your fork for each bite. (A spoon is also ideal for those of us who love loads of dressing.)
Broccoli is a common ingredient in the chopped salad multiverse – it can be raw, of course, or quickly blanched to mellow its texture and brighten its colour. (It’s best to chop your broccoli fully after blanching; tiny bits of floret cook quickly and require a fine sieve to drain.) Tossing/massaging raw broccoli in vinegar and a bit of salt (or tossing with a vinaigrette and letting it sit) will similarly tame it – unlike many fragile salads, this is a great make-ahead meal.
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Winter Spoon Salad
Measurements here are completely lax; salads rarely require a recipe, but more a guideline. Other brassicas besides broccoli work equally well here, as do grains such as farro or quinoa (or no grains at all). It’s not a disaster if you don’t have (or like) some of these ingredients – try adding some grated raw beet, or cooked frozen edamame. And keep future salads in mind when roasting winter veg for dinner – it requires the same amount of time and energy to cook more.
- Dry or canned (drained) lentils
- Dry pearl or pot barley (or other grains)
- Broccoli, chopped smaller than bite-sized (or cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage or shaved Brussels sprouts)
- Red or white wine or apple cider vinegar
- Chopped roasted winter squash or root veg
- Chopped apple or pear
- Finely chopped shallot or green onion
- Crumbled feta or grated extra-old cheddar, or other sharp/briny cheese
- Toasted pumpkin, sunflower or other seeds (or chopped nuts)
Dressing:
- 1/3 cup canola or other vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp red or white wine or apple cider vinegar
- 1-2 tsp grainy or Dijon mustard
- 1-2 tsp honey or maple syrup
- A bit of finely crushed garlic (optional)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Cook lentils in salted water for 20-30 minutes, and barley in salted water for about 30 minutes, or until tender; drain well and set aside to cool. (They will double or triple in size as they cook.)
Meanwhile, chop the broccoli and if you like things vinegary, toss in a bowl with a drizzle of vinegar and a sprinkle of salt; if you toss with your hands, massage the broccoli a bit with your fingers, as you might massage kale.
To make the dressing, stir or shake all the ingredients up in a small bowl, measuring cup or jar; taste and adjust the ingredients to suit your taste. (Keep extras in the fridge for a couple weeks.) Toss with the broccoli and let it sit for an hour or more, if you have time.
To assemble your salad(s), arrange ingredients on plates or toss on a platter or in a bowl, saving the cheese and toasted seeds (or nuts) to scatter on top right before serving. Drizzle with as much dressing as you like and serve right away, or keep in the fridge to nibble all week.
