When you run out of salad ideas

Rules of thumb for making an excellent salad any time of year

I know the idea of making a salad sometimes seems boring. You’re not sure what to do, but also don’t want to go to too much trouble. I hope this will make it easier. My generalized rule of thumb for an interesting salad beyond a pile of dressed lettuce is that it should contain:

Greens of some sort. This is seasonal. Winter, include endive and arrugula, summer use the more delicate seasonal lettuces.

Nuts or seeds. This is seasonal too. In fall/winter, use toasted walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts. In Spring/Summer, use seeds such as toasted pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds. Toasted almonds and pistachios are wonderful year round.

Cheese. For winter, a blue cheese or crumbled aged white cheddar are nice. For summer, I love burrata or feta. Goat cheese and parmesan are good choices year round. You can also add grilled halloumi.

Fruit or vegetable. Avacados are always delicious, especially with grapefruit, fennel and pistachios. In general, for winter, you can use thinly sliced apples or pears (which are lovely with blue cheese and toasted walnuts), citrus slices or pomegranate seeds. Dried fruit such as apricots and dates are nice. Winter vegetables that are wonderful in salads include thinly sliced fennel, thinly sliced raw kolrabi, roasted butternut squash, and roasted or raw carrots.

For summer fruit, try peaches (or any ripe stone fruit) or berries. And for veggies, crisp poached asparagus cut into pieces, thinly sliced radish, and of course tomatoes. Thinly sliced zucchini is wonderful too, as are fresh corn kernels and green peas.

Optional: meat. The addition of a protein turns your salad into a meal. You can fry slices of proscuito in a about a tablespoon of olive oil until it is cooked, then let it cool. It will become thin, salty and crispy. This is a wonderful garnish. Thin slices of smoked salmon are beautiful with many salads. Or try a flavorful dusting of shaved botarga, a delicacy of salted, cured fish roe, typically from grey mullet or tuna, known as the "prosciutto of the sea". This will keep in your fridge for a while and adds a wonderful umami. (If you use a botarga or salmon, you’ll probably want to eliminate the fruit component.)

Dressing. A basic salad dressing is all you’ll usually need. A finely chopped shallot marinated in a teaspoon of sherry vinegar with a good squeeze of lemon juice. Then mixed with 1/2 cup olive oil, a teaspoon of whole grain mustard, 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme, 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano, salt and pepper. Bam. That’s it.

THE SECRET: If you’re using nuts in your salad, incorporate specialty oils such as hazelnut oil, walnut oil, or almond oil into the dressing. Just a couple of tablespoons makes an enormous difference. Keep these oils in the fridge because they go rancid sitting out. They will keep a long time in the fridge.

If you are using citrus in your salad, instead of the sherry vinegar, use blood orange vinegar. If you’re using pears in your salad, use pear vinegar. And if you’re using berries, use raspberry vinegar. These vinegars are very special, and will keep in the fridge for a long time.

Another nice touch is a crunchy sea salt as garnish. This adds a bit of sparkle and texture to the final masterpiece.

Here’s how it all comes together: