Salad Recipes

A visitor from another planet would find the entire concept of salad confusing. Just when he thought he had pinned the definition down, another meaning for salad would appear to further obscure the issue.

What is a Salad?

The term is most often used to describe a bowl of greens (lettuce, spinach, dandelion, endive), topped with a liquid or creamy flavoring sauce called dressing, and often other vegetables such as tomato, green pepper, onions, radishes and sprouts.

This dish can be served as a first course of a large meal, as a light repast between meals, or can be turned into an entire meal with addition of cheeses, boiled eggs, and (for omnivores) cold meats.

But Wait!

A salad can also be based on something other than greens, even starches like potatoes or macaroni, in a mayonnaise base. Potato and macaroni salads are more often side dishes rather than first courses, and accompany informal meals, lunches, and picnics. They are especially popular in the summertime, when cold foods are preferred.

And what about fruit salad? This mix of diced or sliced fruit can be a side dish, a dessert or an appetizer. It's all so confusing.

Meat Salads?

Sure, why not. Chicken salad, tuna salad, shrimp or crab salad - these are diced meats turned into a spreadable paste with mayonnaise, sour cream or other creamy ingredient. These meat salads can be eaten alone, spread on bread, toast, croissants or pitas for a sandwich, stuffed inside a tomato shell or a cucumber boat, or even put atop a traditional green salad. In which case, would you say it becomes, for instance, chicken salad salad?

In any event, salads are a wonderful way to get one's allotment of vegetables, and an excellent meal on a hot day.