I would like to become a neighborhood salad maven

[Anonymous]

There was an older coastal grandma type in my neighborhood who became known for her luscious salads and unusual dressings. She'd invite people to gather on her lush patio for a meal of candied lemon, walnuts, goat cheese, and arugula with a creamy light radish dressing and Champagne, or else bring over a cute little box of fresh sliced tomato, torn basil, and fresh mozzarella with a delicious balsamic vinaigrette drizzle.

Salad Maven has since moved, and I'd like to take up the mantle! I need advice: How often to shop for vegetables, where, how to determine which dressing could pair with which item, etc.

Please share your leafy triumphs.

[Anonymous]

Luscious salad creeps me out

[Anonymous]

If you did this in my neighborhood, I'd pay you generously for lunchtime takeout. (And would love to come join you in person on your lush patio as well.)

[Anonymous]

This is my new goal once the kids are all a bit older. Thank you for the inspo!

[Anonymous]

Develop a raspberry vinaigrette for a dressing. Shop twice a week, mostly at farmers markets - the fresher the food, the better.

I will caution you, be careful of trying to take over someone else's role - everyone will compare you to her and if you fall short it'll be hard to recover. Maybe you want to be known for your pies or flower arrangements or something original.

[Anonymous]

Grow what you can. You can do container gardens for tomatoes, lettuce, fresh herbs. Raised beds can be for cukes, zucchini, and radishes. Other items can come from farmers markets.

[Anonymous]

Just make sure you’re not advertising salad tossing in the gay neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for this thread - first of all I think becoming a Neighborhood Salad Maven is an amazing goal, and a few of these comments had me howling.

My $0.02:

Get an Aerogarden - handy to have fresh herbs to use in your vinaigrettes, whether they’re in season or not, and they’re expensive at grocery store! You can also grow lettuces etc. in the bigger Aerogardens but I just do herbs in mine so can’t comment on the ease of that.

Farmers markets like others said.

My favourite recipes that are available online (I’ve adapted both, but they’re great as written:

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/corn-and-fregola-with-grilled-halloumi-cheese

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021454-chopped-salad-with-chickpeas-feta-and-avocado

https://themodernproper.com/simple-butter-lettuce-salad

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Develop a raspberry vinaigrette for a dressing. Shop twice a week, mostly at farmers markets - the fresher the food, the better.

I will caution you, be careful of trying to take over someone else's role - everyone will compare you to her and if you fall short it'll be hard to recover. Maybe you want to be known for your pies or flower arrangements or something original.

What planet is this?

[Anonymous]

Salad Maven sounds awesome!

My best advice for you is to roll with the seasons. Caprese salad is perfect right now because tomatoes are fresh. The window of time is short. Get the meatiest, deepest red tomatoes you can find at a farmer's market (I like heirloom tomatoes for this.) When they start getting paler or more rubbery, the season is over.

In the fall and winter, you can use butternut squash in salads. I make one with spring mix, roasted butternut squash, diced celery, toasted walnuts, parmesan cheese (shaved fresh) and a cider vinaigrette.

In the spring, asparagus makes a great base for a salad with roasted red peppers and goat cheese.

[Anonymous]

Where did she go?