Salad Days

If there's one gadget in my kitchen that I can't do without, it has definitely got to be the salad spinner.  Once tried and I was hooked.  I think I first came across this gadget on a self-catering break in France.  It was just part of the equipment in the kitchen.  I remember using it and finding it so easy to get the excess water off the salad leaves once they'd been washed, that I never looked back.  If you've never actually seen one, here's a picture of mine.

When I got back to England, I managed to find one for sale in Lidl for about £4.  If you've never tried one but like to keep salad in the fridge, I would highly recommend them.  The spinning of the basket by turning the knob on the top round for a minute or two,  removes excess water from the leaves leaving the salad lovely and crisp and fresh for days.  I very rarely have the problem of salad going soggy, limp or mouldy any more, in the bottom of the fridge.

I do like a good salad and as I've mentioned in a previous post, most days I have salad for lunch.  As a consequence, I am a little choosy about the type of lettuce I use and ideally I like a nice curly leaved red lettuce, which luckily I can get from our local green grocer.  They are quite expensive at £1.49 but worth it to me as they are the main ingredient of my lunch and usually one will last most of the week although I may need to purchase another at the weekend.  In the summer months, I tend to grow my own and have some favourite seeds that I buy from Lidl for 29p per packet. 

They have produced wonderful curly leaved red and green lettuces at a fraction of the shop prices.  This particular variety though, is an early lettuce variety called Besson Rouge which you sow in March/April and harvest until June/July but if it gets hot, it bolts and goes over, if not harvested quickly.  They are prolific and one pack produces hundreds of lettuces.  A later variety which produce a nice curly red or green lettuce are Mixed Salad Bowl which you can get from most garden centres or Wilko.

Anyway, back to the subject of salads and salad spinners.  After washing the lettuce leaves and spinning them in the salad spinner, I then add some of them to my special deep salad bowl and add various other ingredients which vary according to what is in the fridge, but the main ones tend to be tomato, cucumber, avocado, beetroot,  and one of the following - mozarella cheese, boiled egg or feta cheese - all chopped into smallish pieces.  I then add a splash each of red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar and hey presto lunch is served.

If I don't have salad for at least 3 days of the week, I start to feel sluggish.  It just seems to help me feel healthy and mentally feel positive.  Don't ask me why.  Perhaps it's a psychological thing.
I've been having salads for lunch for a good few years now and rarely get bored of them.  There is always some way you can vary the salad to make it more interesting, such as adding nuts or seeds, chicken, tuna, spring onions, radish, green beans, salami, whatever you might have available.

Here's a picture of a typical lunch for me. I tend to have it with a low fat snack such as Snack a Jacks or similar.  It might not be everyone's idea of a good lunch but I swear by it.  I do occasionally lapse and have a sandwich or sushi, which I usually thoroughly enjoy for a change, but my heart belongs to a good mixed salad.