How to mix up your spring salad

Almost anything can constitute a salad. Yes dictionaries variously describe salad as cold, consisting of raw vegetables, and featuring a dressing, and often these things are true – but not always.

For there are warm salads, salads with grains or seafood, and salads where the pairing of ingredients is so precise and perfect – think pear and Roquefort – that not even a dressing is required. For me what is essential about a salad is freshness and piquancy; it must be vibrant and sprightly.

If you need a rule of thumb though, to use when constructing your salads, think in terms of leaf, grain, protein, and dressing. So an assembly of rocket, quinoa and hot-smoked trout with a cream cheese and caper dressing one day; and lamb’s lettuce, bulgur wheat and grilled halloumi with a honey and smoked paprika dressing the next. Your protein might be cooked or raw, be meat, fish, lentils or cheese – the inclusion of crumbled feta, Boursin, or blue cheese adds seasoning and moistness and can sometimes make a dressing unnecessary.