‘Salad days’ is a literary metaphor but I must admit I much prefer the literal meaning. When the fickle British summer makes an appearance, it is the salad time for me. Who would want soup? Unless it’s gazpacho.
Luckily, I find myself not usually that hungry when the weather is good outside, and eating my weight in strawberries fills me up during the day. And for the main meal I definitely don’t want to turn on the hob, let alone oven.
So I keep the cooking brief and to the minimum, like searing a bavette steak for the heavenly tasting Thai-style beef salad. If you have it on its own, without a carbs filler, you can indulge in a scoop of ice cream for dessert.
I won’t blame you if you substitute a supermarket rotisserie chicken for the poached one in bang bang chicken. It is traditionally a starter dish in Asian restaurants but hey! if it’s a large enough portion, any starter can become a main course.
The same chicken (or rather another one of its kind), another salad: with melon and feta cheese. Or, when fresh corn on the cob turns up, make the chicken, sweetcorn and bacon one.
Smoked fish is the perfect, no-cook source of protein plus omega fatty acids we never get enough of. Picking bones and flaking a smoked mackerel or Arbroath smokie is a minor chore but it provides the canvas for a smoked fish and rice salad bowl, a mackerel, avocado and celeriac salad and a smoked mackerel and potato combo.
For a filler, add grains like in spelt and courgette ribbons or bulgur with chorizo and runner beans. And you can open a couple of tins with excellent results: chickpea and pancetta, anyone? Or perhaps red kidney beans with avocado?
There are some more options in my content pages, so enjoy the sunshine instead of slogging over the hob. Happy salad days!