Tossing a Better Holiday Salad

Tossing a Better Holiday Salad

A well-prepared salad is often my favorite part of any meal. Done right, it packs tons of flavor for very few calories. Salads are rich in nutrients, and studies show that eating a salad with a meal helps fill you up sooner, so you don’t overindulge on less healthful foods. There’s even research to show that using full-fat dressing on a salad unlocks more nutrients in the salad than a no-fat dressing.

While I’m not much of a cook, I have honed my salad-making skills over the years to the point that even my daughter and her friends love them. When it comes to kids and salads, I think tearing or cutting the greens into smaller pieces makes a difference. That way every forkful usually contains a better mix of flavors, rather than just a big piece of lettuce.

I’ve also learned that adding fruit to a green salad makes it more tempting to kids. I rarely use tomatoes, carrots or any of the standard garden salad ingredients. In addition to organic greens (never iceberg lettuce), we add dried cranberries, pears or apples and then add something crunchy like sunflower or pumpkin seeds, walnuts and sometimes croutons. We usually add a little crumbled cheese, and depending on what else is in the fridge, we might toss in grilled chicken, broccoli, green beans or corn.

This week, I learned a great salad-making tip from New York Times recipe tester Jill Santopietro, who has launched a new fun video blog called Tiny Kitchen. In one of her latest entries, she makes a simple Roquefort salad, using greens, walnuts, apples and crumbled cheese. The video is filled with tips on washing salad, making homemade dressing and making your own caramelized nuts. She also, surprisingly, sprinkles her apples with pepper. “You would never imagine how good it is,” she says.

But the biggest revelation for me was her method for dressing the salad. Ms. Santopietro explains that in restaurants, chefs don’t pour the salad dressing directly on the salad. Instead, they use a bottle to squeeze it onto the sides of the bowl. Then they toss the salad against the edges of the bowl to evenly coat the greens.