Build the Summer Salad of Your Dreams

Pictured: The ingredients found in the ‘Over the Rainbow’ bowl at Heartwood Eatery: Mixed Greens, Carrots, Roasted Beets, Daikon Radish, Garbanzo Beans, Toasted Seeds, Avocado, House-made Wakame Kraut, Tempeh, Heartwood Dressing.

Build the Summer Salad of Your Dreams

The essence of the garden in your bowl. No matter how you dice, slice, chop, roast, pickle or shred it, the possibilities are endless. With a few tips from the pros at Heartwood Eatery, you can build your own fresh from afield signature seasonal combo.

Use farm-direct, local ingredients whenever possible. Let the season and setting guide you!

Kale makes great salads but needs to be sliced very fine, and ideally massaged with dressing or oil and salt.

Greens — spicy, bitter, sweet — Remember to wash and dry well! Check out our greens guide on pages 8-9. Sweet elements — fresh or dried fruit, honeyed nuts

Roasting vegetables — use high heat to caramelize the sugars. Just toss with olive oil and salt and don’t crowd the pan so they roast, not steam.

From the Grill: Corn, Eggplant, Zucchini — what’s your favorite?

Herbs! Fresh-torn herbs added to salads are wonderful and add another dimension of flavor. Try dill, cilantro, parsley, tarragon, mint. Basil and parsley like to be treated like a flower — trim the stems and keep in a vase on the counter.

Crunch factor = seeds and nuts (plain, roasted or seasoned), croutons, fried shallots

Balance = color, texture, flavor, shape, size — Use your artistic eye to create a beautiful masterpiece!

Salads-in-a-salad: Add potatoes — roasted or boiled & seasoned, a bean salad or perhaps broccoli or cabbage slaw?

Hardy greens like kale take stronger flavors & roasted vegetables

Sprouts and Microgreens! Super nutritious and delicious

Proteins — beans (puréed or whole), marinated tempeh, 7-minute egg, cheese, nuts and seeds, chicken, smoked fish

Ferments — Krauts and pickled veggies — beets, onions, cucumbers

A Special thanks to Mielle Chenier-Cowan Rose, Kitchen Manager at Heartwood Eatery, for her contributions to this guide!

BALANCE FLAVORS

The following list of complementary flavors or textures can help. Use these guidelines in a single dish, or consider offering a harmonizing condiment.

IF IT’S…

Too Sour — add sweet/salty/ creamy

Too Sweet — add sour/spicy/salty

Too Spicy — add sweet/creamy

Too Bitter — add sweet/creamy

Too Salty — add sour, or if you’ve over-salted a soup try to dilute it with a little water. You can also boil a raw potato in it, peeled and quartered, to absorb some of the salt. Discard the potato pieces after about ten minutes.

Source: Piece Of My Heart and Veganish by Mielle Chenier-Cowan Rose