Salad without greens

It is no secret that one of my favorite things is a green salad. "Garden salad" is what it's sometimes called, which seems to be a misnomer to me, since that means anything you want could go into it. "Simple salad" is what some people call it, which is also a misnomer, since there's nothing simple about a basic green salad. And when you think about it, "green salad" is a bad name too, because you could have beans, squash, etc, in it, and it's still "green." "Lettuce salad" or "Leaf salad" might be more precise, but let's not be picky. We all know what I'm talking about here.

A properly made salad of baby lettuces, fresh and crisp, is a glorious thing, either on its own, or at the end of a meal, or at the beginning of a meal, and so forth. I try to make one every night.

Unfortunately, there comes a time during the summer when a leaf lettuce salad is not possible. Lettuces do not do well in the heat. They need cooler days . When it gets very hot, they either "bolt" , that is, go to seed very quickly, leaving behind tough, bitter leaves, or they just do not grow at all. With the "vegetable line" we have here in the Northeast, normally, there is always some source of salad greens. Southern Jersey gets them when it's too cold for upstate NY to have them, and when it gets too hot for southern Jersey, Upstate is coming in with their crops. But there is always a cycle of about two weeks when it's difficult to get those lovely greens, and we're in it now.

When that happens, I turn to other ideas for salads. One of my favorites is this one, inspired by some cooking shows, and by combinations of colors.

I have written in the past about some underappreciated vegetables, like carrots, and celery. Well, let's add cucumbers to that list. I love cucumbers. It seems, in fact, that my favorite vegetables are the ones that have no nutritional value at all. Many people don't like them, and I don't know why. I have heard that they cause gas in some people, and maybe they do and that's why, but I also think that if you regulate the amount of them you eat, it may be a different story. In any event, I love the cool green color that kirbys and other small cucumbers "bring to the table," so to speak. And I think that they combine beautifully with dairy based products, like creme fraiche. And with herbs like dill.

Interestingly enough, so do beets. Recently, I wrote about how good they were when they were slow roasted. And now, since we both love beets, we have tons of roasted beets in the fridge. Chioggias, those wonderful pink striped ones. And yellow ones. I stay away from the red ones when the other colors are available, because while you can minimize the bleeding from those dark beauties, you can't eliminate it.

So, last night, I made a salad as follows. I took five cucumbers, and sliced them on what they call a "benriner." I will explain this useful tool. You've all seen those big, massive dangerous looking slicers they call "mandolines." They are expensive, they rust, and they ARE expensive. And just about no one who cooks at home needs one. Some years ago, the "benriner" (I have no idea what the name came from), because available. This looks like a small paddle, with a guillotine blade in it. You can get one in a straight cut, and one in a frill cut. I use the straight one. They come with a handle so that you can protect your hand, but I don't use it because I'm very careful with these things. The blades are VERY sharp. But they make incredibly thin slices. And I went to work on the cucumbers, producing a mess of thin slices. So, too, with a handful (say six), small to medium sized beets. I can't really describe the beautiful color contrast of the pink beets and the light green cucumbers. It was a thing of beauty.

Onto the dressing. Creme fraiche, made at home (you don't make it? Okay, here's how you do it. Get a pint of unpasteurized heavy cream. Put it in a container with a quarter cup of buttermilk. Shake it. Cover it and leave it on a counter, unrefrigerated, for 2 or 3 days. BAM. Creme f raiche. Put it in your refrigerator and when you begin to get low on it, pour in some heavy cream, shake it and start all over again). I put several big spoonfuls of it in, together with several sprigs of fresh dill, left over from pickle making , that I had chopped. Salt, and the juice of half a lemon followed (more for flavor than acid, the creme fraiche has acidity). Finally, about three tablespoons of olive oil. Then a whisking, and then in go the veggies, folded into this thick wonderful white stuff.

And that was the salad. It went on the menu with a cold roasted chicken, the squash soup, and a cold stuffed artichoke. Yes, I had spent a fair amount of time in a hot kitchen, making cold food, but it sure was good last night.

So, get a bit creative with your salads, especially when the lettuce isn't all that available. I may be making this again in the future, with my favorite green beans. I can see some chopped nuts going onto that. Stay tuned....