A garden salad with balsamic vinaigrette is dainty like edible gossamer, but with cucumber soups and stuffed squash blossoms reigning the appetizer menu, those dutiful leaves are looking a little wane. Get your salad to man up with off-collared greens, candied nuts, exotic fruit and savory meats. Add a light drizzling of honey Dijon, or a heavy dollop of creamy chive to your avant-garde medley, and voila, salad is stock no more.
greens and things
Iceberg may win the popularity contest, but it’s really more about texture than flavor. Before you start tossing Snickers bars in with your lettuce (people really do that), keep in mind that certain greens come with built-in personality. In fact, once you move over to the dark side (think Romaine and red leafy), taste and nutritional value saturate too.
Get flavorful with:
Arugula and Chinese lettuce (both bitterly delicious, though the later is über robust and ought to be cooked before consumption)
Spinach and cabbage leaves (two taste-full outsiders working as lettuce substitutes)
Leave your leaves cold and crisp, or put the raw food movement on the backburner and try them steamed or stir-fried.
twisted veggies
Sometimes there’s nothing left in your crisper but half a pepper and a quarter cucumber, but weddings weren’t made for slim pickings, so be creative about your vegetable selections.
Get a little weird with:
Artichoke hearts
Leeks
Endives
Paprika peppers
Seaweed
Warm up an otherwise cold (spinach) salad with:
Roasted bell peppers
Caramelized onions & mushrooms
Grilled sweet potato with brown sugar
Marinated eggplant in olive oil
Barbecued zucchini with habañero chili
Skip the lettuce altogether and try:
Cucumbers, tomatoes and strawberries in a vinaigrette
Avocado salad with bruschetta
Alfalfa sprouts, sugar peas, watercress and Asian pears with sesame dressing
Clever tip:
Red onions add bite, maybe too much bite, to any salad. Tame those bad boys by soaking them in red wine vinegar beforehand.
forbidden fruit
The addition of fruit is all about the addition of color and natural sugar. While there’s no need to negate the visual oomph, you may want to counter the sweetness with salty nuts, bitter greens or hot-as-hell spices.
Get pretty with:
Blood oranges
Star fruit
Various melons (cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon)
Blackberries, blueberries and raspberries
Pomegranate seeds
Get sweet (without the residual guilt) with:
Concord grapes
Mangoes
Dried cherries
Strawberries
Kiwi
Clever tip:
When using frozen berries, don’t chuck the thawed juices. Instead, pour the natural goodness into a homemade vinaigrette.
‘yum’ in a nutshell
Protein-wise, nuts are a super alternative to meat. However, just because they can be healthy, doesn’t mean they have to be. Raw walnuts, almonds and water chestnuts are delicious in their own right, but this is your wedding, so go nuts with:
Butter pecans
Pepper lime macadamia nuts
Sweet soy sesame almonds
Vanilla hazelnuts
Toasted pine nuts
salad a la surf and turf
Meat takes your salad from side dish to outright meal, so appease that omnivorous instinct and combine all that is fresh and raw with all that is filling and sometimes greasy.
Hit up that other food group with:
BBQ shrimp and rib steak
Smoked fish
Fried chicken
Dry salami
Curried lamb (think lentil salad)
