Salads are so much more than lettuce and some cucumbers! They can contain all kinds of ingredients and be presented in a thousand and one ways. Here are some examples to inspire you.
An example of transformation: the Waldorf salad
If you don't already make it at home, Waldorf salad is a great recipe to try because it's delicious, but also because it's the butler and not the chef of the Waldorf who invented it (which proves to all your little Ratatouille lovers that “everyone can cook”).
To prepare it, just mix
- a cup of apples cut into small pieces (add a few drops of lemon juice to prevent the apples from browning)
- a cup of celery
- ¼ cup raisins and
- ¼ cup walnuts.
Tie it all together with ¼ cup of mayonnaise and that's it! To reinvent it, replace the mayonnaise with Greek yogurt and add chicken and maple syrup, as the girls of Cuisine futée did, parents in a hurry.
Add grilled fruit
Grilling peaches to add to a caprese salad, what a delicious idea! Once your peaches are well grilled in the balsamic vinegar and honey, cut them into slices that you will alternate with slices of tomatoes and slices of mozzarella.
Photo credit: Simply Gourmet
Add warm dressing
To give your salad another air, add a warm vinaigrette at the last minute. For example, you can make an orange vinaigrette by combining over the heat:
- 4 c. orange juice
- 2 c. balsamic vinegar
- 1 c. Dijon mustard
- 1 c. honey
Add warm chicken
Chicken pieces also add another dimension to a plain salad. Just buy half a chicken or cook a large chicken breast for a doubly nutritious, protein-packed salad.
Add roast beef slices
Lettuce, a few slices of avocado and cherry tomatoes make a great side dish. Add a few slices of roast beef from the night before (or a live-cooked steak) and watch this salad turn into an iron-packed main course that everyone loves.
Photo credit: Paleo Newbie
A bowl of avocado
If you roast an avocado in the oven orbarbecue, you can turn it into a delicious salad bowl. Chop lettuce, add shrimp, chunks of onion, cucumber, tomato and corn and your salad should be a hit.
Photo credit: Wendy Weekend Gourmet
A bell pepper bowl
Bean salads and those containing quinoa look great in a hollowed-out pepper. You can mix yellows, greens and reds for an even prettier effect on the table.
A salad in a jar
The Masson jar has obviously been a must in recent years when it comes to presenting food. The salad is no exception and you can present yours in a very interesting way by separating each ingredient well by layer.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
If you are looking for ways to present the salad well to encourage children to eat vegetables, you can always make your salads faces, landscapes, people or animals.
A salad cake?!?
Obviously you don't have to go that far to be original, but these cakes were worth mentioning. This is a Japanese restaurant that serves slices of salad cakes, glazed with cream cheese and tofu, for $6.50 a serving. It's up to Japanese food stylist Mitsuki Moriyasuthat we owe this genius idea. It remains to be seen if the popularity of the cakes is only due to their aesthetics or if they taste as good as they look.
