Yahoo Autos Our Favorite Cool and Crunchy Salad Greens to Try Right Now
Gentl and Hyers
Bitter, sweet, spicy, crisp, tender…spring and summer salad greens vary widely in flavor and texture and what is key to a really great salad is knowing how each of them works best. Sheila Jarnes, a chef and food stylist based in Portland, Maine, is always excited when the first tender greens of spring appear at her local market. She has worked in professional kitchens that value locally-sourced produce—including a stint at the storied Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California—and has this advice for prepping salad greens: "One of the biggest lessons I learned at Chez Panisse is to treat greens gently!" she says, "While a salad spinner can be a great tool, it can also damage the leaves...and it's such a shame for them to get bruised." For extra-delicate greens like mâché and watercress, Jarnes prefers to drop them in a basin of cold water, swish them around gently by hand to knock off any grit, then drain them in a colander before laying them out on a towel-lined baking sheet to finish drying.
Related: How to Make a Salad with What You Have on Hand
Now that Jarnes' career is in styling food for editorial and commercial photo shoots, we asked her to walk us through her process for making salads look their very best, "My biggest tip is thinking about the order in which you want to add the ingredients", she says. "If the leaves are really tender, I might gently dress them alone, plate them, and then dress any of the heavier, crunchier ingredients separately." Up next, Jarnes says she will add those heavier ingredients to the plate, "gently dropping them over different areas of the plate, so each ingredient is more or less evenly but 'whimsically' distributed." To finish off the dish, Jarnes will add a few more drizzles of dressing with a spoon, and anything else that will add extra flavor, texture, and color contrast, such as torn fine herbs, nuts, or coarse breadcrumbs. "It's all about layering the flavor and visual elements," she explains.
Once you find your favorite kind of salad green, it's easy to stick with it rather than branch out and try new varieties you've never heard of. Below, find our favorite representatives of all of the various flavors and textures a good salad green can bring to the table. Look for your favorite, then learn about similar greens you may have never heard of or tried before and give them a go in your salads this summer.
Ren Fuller
If You Like Peppery Greens Such as Arugula, Try Watercress
Arugula has softer leaves and a distinctive peppery bite. It's a workhorse in the kitchen, you can add it to other lettuces for a bolder mix, turn it into a side salad to complement a rich main, stir a handful into a pot of Lemony Pasta with Wilted Arugula, or even whirl it into a sauce to make Arugula Pesto.
Like arugula, watercress has a peppery bite with a hint of mustard on the back end. It's just as bold and versatile, too: use it in a salad like the Watercress, Strawberry, and Toasted-Sesame Salad, pictured at top, or this refreshing version that pairs the peppery green with the flavors of grapefruit and avocado, blend it into an invigorating drink as this Watercress-Buttermilk Cooler does, or enjoy it in this Corn, Watercress, and Potato Soup that is just as delicious served hot as it is chilled.
Johnny Miller
