by Meeta Khurana from What’s For Lunch, Honey?

As the temperatures begin to rise and the weather rolls on over into warmth of Summer we all tend to crave for lighter and fresher foods. Salads take up the main focus at mealtimes as they offer a cooler and lighter way to enjoy lunch or dinner. In the past it seems the poor salad acquired a bad reputation of being something one ate when one needed to loose weight or as a shady side dressed with wilted lettuce and oily dressing.

Things have luckily changed. There is such a large variety of salads to suit everyone’s taste and a salad creation is only limited to your imagination. Salads are versatile and can be served as a side, snack or as a main. One can add meat, poultry, seafood or other vegetables to the salad, sprinkle it with nuts, seeds or croutons and dress it up in a variety of flavorful dressings. In this roundup I hope to find a salad for every palate.

Vegetarian Salads

A very intriguing salad to me was Sea Salt with Food’s Fiddlehead Fern and Edamame Salad topped with crumbled feta cheese. Fiddlehead Ferns are part of the large family of ferns which are harvested during spring and offer a delicious and wild flavor somewhere between green beans and artichokes! I’ll need to keep my eyes open for the fiddlehead ferns. Sara of Sara’s Kitchen brings a kaleidoscope of color into her spinach and shaved vegetable salad. Spinach, baby carrots, yellow beets are just some of the fresh vegetables she uses to create a lovely colorful salad. Rita is getting ready for the summer and indulges in a lovely looking Mediterranean Summer Salad with zucchini, yellow squash and pasta. Veggiebelly creates a gorgeously colorful potato salad using three different colored potatoes in her Peruvian Causa. Katie of goodLife eats ponders on the fact if salad is summer food while she creates a Spinach and Clementine Salad with Vanilla Sugar Almonds and although clementines are not really summer fruit the salad is a great way to enjoy summer. Mango and tomato combines fruit strawberries with the slightly bitter arugula and smooth mozzarella to serve a lovely strawaberry, arugula, mozzarella and almond salad. Another simply delectable way to enjoy the flavors of fruit and vegetables paired together in a summer salad is my peaches, tomato and mozzarella salad. It’s a perfect mingling of intense flavors. With asparagus season just beginning this shaved asparagus salad from Hungry Cravings offers a perfect way to enjoy the delicate vegetable all summer long.

Coleslaws

One of the most popular salads to enjoy while barbecuing with friends. There’ll be plenty of grilling going on this summer and here are a few great varieties for this all time favorite. Margot provides us with a great healthier version of the classic coleslaw. Konosur shares a delightful apple and raisin coleslaw prepared in 3 minutes and is almost healthy. My creamy red peppercorn coleslaw uses sour cream and natural yogurt to give a lighter and tangy flavor and crushed red peppercorns for a sweet fiery aroma. eating Club Vancouver uses Savoy cabbage to make a low maintenence slaw which is big in flavor.  The Thorngrove Table also uses Savoy cabbage and serves it with a creamy thick avocado cream. Decadent!

Seafood salads

I really enjoy salads with shrimp or other seafood so Jenn’s scrumptious Meditarranean shrimp salad is so good with couscous, mint, cranberries and almonds that this would be a perfect main instead of a side. I also like Foodista’s innovative idea of wrapping salad and shrimp in her coconut and shrimp salad rolls. Over at Taste Buddies the Moroccan shrimp salad lures us with flavors of sumac, harissa and Hungarian paprika. Kevin, known for unique and creative creations offers us a maple and miso scallop salad as a mouthwatering delicacy. Little Bear’s Kitchen gives the tuna salad a nice spin by adding a handful of raisins, perfect for sandwiches.

Chicken Salads

Another fantastic classic, which can be used as a filling or simply enjoyed with a nice piece of bread. Living Tastefully gives a fruity touch to her chicken salad by adding a few grapes. Kate of The Parsley thief makes a irresistible grilled chicken salad with tarragon pesto - how divine! Cranberries and walnuts adorn the chicken salad created by Bella Eats - a harmony of juicy tangy fruit and crunchy nuts. Greedy Gourmet does not make just any old chicken salad - no she makes an incredible General Tso’d chicken salad!

Salads with a Twist

These are salads that are different than the usual types using lettuce and greens. Salads with a twist have something special to them. They can be exotic, incorporate a special ingredient or have just a slightly different flavor, which all give such salads a special elegance. Anegla’s Food Love make a really spectacular and full of flavor Italian roasted bell pepper salad. Yes - it uses very simple ingredients but the result is an outrageously scrumptious salad. Jackie of Pham Fatale makes a lovely combination of Israeli couscous, roasted bell peppers and lentils in her stunning Israeli Couscous and Lentil Salad with Roasted Red Bell Pepper Gelee. Corn, tomatoes with a twist of lime and coriander make this corn coriander salad a great side to not only fish dishes but perfect for grilled meats too.  Food 4 Wibowo uses wheat berry and black eyed peas in a very good looking wheat berry and black eyed peas salad, in which garlic, spearmint leaves and cumin seeds round it off perfectly. I use the distinct flavor of Serrano ham and roasted pumpkin for my roasted pumpkin and mushroom salad with Serrano ham. Kathy’s Super Rouge Salad is striking with pomegranate seeds, strawberries, tomatoes and pears making it full of powerful red antioxidants. A touch of the Middle East offers the warm vegetable salad using aubergines, yellow squash and cumin.

But that’s not all - the FoodieView Recipe Search Engine offers a huge serving of great salad ideas. Do browse through and enjoy the full glory of summer produce in wonderful, fresh salads.

Meeta is a passionate food writer, cook and photographer. She experiments in her kitchen and presents her flavor combinations in exciting new dishes. Her blog Whatís For Lunch, Honey? was recently selected as one of the Top 50 Best Food Blogs by Times Online UK and offers over 500 recipes all peppered with a good dose of life.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 11:03 am and is filed under Recipe Roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.