Simple Salads for Sultry Days

It really has been far too hot to cook recently.  We have used up almost all our pre-cooked meals from the freezer, and most of the time we’ve opted for something “quick and simple”.  You can make a salad with almost anything, either raw or cooked and cooled – potato salad is one of our favourites, or egg and rice, pasta twirls – the list goes on.  Allow your imagination to range free and you will certainly find something tasty which, with a little bit of this and that added, can be intriguing to look at as well.

At this time of year we usually have a glut of courgettes, but having concentrated on watering newly-planted trees and a freshly established rose since May, I have neglected the vegetables, with fairly disastrous results, but that is another story.  If you have been more assiduous in irrigating your veg plots, and have more courgettes than you can shake a stick at, here is a refreshing and unusual way of serving them.  You need to pick them when they are still young, as the tougher ones are less flavoursome as well as too chewy to be enjoyable.

You need some young sprigs of mint, a lemon and some really good olive oil, as well as a twist of black pepper and one of rock salt.  I found one small to medium courgette provided enough salad to feed two of us.

Wash the mint, lemon and courgettes well then pat dry with kitchen paper.  Using a mandolin potato peeler, cut fine, long strips of the vegetable directly into the serving bowl, allowing them to concertina loosely into the dish if possible.  Scrape some zest from the lemon over the courgette – not too much or it will overwhelm the flavours of the oil, mint, and the courgette itself, which has a truly delicate succulence that it would be a shame to mask.  Chop the mint roughly with a very sharp knife.  It blackens very quickly, so sprinkle it immediately over the salad, then pour on a liberal slurp of oil, the salt and pepper, and finally the lemon juice.  I used about half a teaspoonful which was plenty.  Fold the courgettes into the oil and lemon mix so it coats them roughly, and serve as soon as possible.

We have had kohl rabi delivered in our last two veg boxes, as well as lovely bunched carrots and spring onions.  Any excuse in our house for coleslaw, so that is what I made. Kohl rabi is a member of the cabbage family, though it looks a little like a miniature alien space ship rather than a bog-standard cabbage. It has a flavour somewhere between cabbage and turnip, and we really enjoy it.

The carrots were clearly freshly pulled, and I simply scrubbed them lightly. trimmed and then grated them into a dish, using the coarsest face of the grater.  Kohl rabi has a tough skin, and needs to be peeled as the first stage in preparation. For this you will need either a very sharp knife or a robust peeler to remove that outer skin.  If you are pressed for time, grate the kohl rabi into the same dish as the carrots, but the end result will be more pleasing if you can spend a few more minutes and chop it instead.  Cut it into fine slices, then chop it until the pieces look small enough to pick up a forkful when at table. 
I cheat when I make slaw, because I think the proprietary mayonnaise is perfect, mixed with salad cream, for home-made coleslaw.  I like onions, but served raw find them somewhat hard to digest, so I tend not to add them to salads. However, my other half loves spring onions, so I compromise by using the green leaves snipped into the slaw, and serving the rest of the onion directly to him.  This is the true beauty of any home-made dish, the ability to add or leave out any ingredient to suit your own palate.  It really does pay to experiment, and enjoy making tasty dishes from whatever comes to hand. 

Bon appétit!