Summer salad ideas with colour, texture and delicious dressings

‘I think about colour and texture, and, most importantly, what’s in there that will fill you up.’ The food writer Jessica Elliott Dennison is explaining the ‘building blocks’ of a successful salad, one that’s a step up from just green leaves, yet won’t drive you insane with a long list of ingredients.

Often, she says, you’ll be making it with ‘whatever you can buy on the way home, from Tesco Express’, and the lead vegetables are likely to be those in need of rescuing from the fridge.

There’s plenty of joy to be had in constructing a salad, though, Jessica says, and not least in the summer. ‘This shouldn’t be a punishing thing eaten on a Monday lunchtime from a Tupperware box when you’ve vowed to restart your diet,’ she says firmly.

In her new book, Salad Feasts, she shares her approach to the art of assembling, simply ‘taking a few good ingredients and tumbling them on to a big sharing platter, without the worry of complicated techniques’, or those hard-to-find extras.

Contrast is key, whether it’s crunchy seeds or toasted croutons scattered over soft cheese, or a pop of bitterness from grapefruit segments cropping up against butter-rich salmon.

Jessica herself goes big on herbs for flavour as well as texture – torn to take on the role of salad leaves, or shredded to add fragrance to all the elements. Add a nifty dressing, whizzed up in moments, and the transformation is complete.

A far cry from a Caesar salad, yet little more than reworking the everyday.

‘Salad Feasts: How To Assemble the Perfect Meal’ by Jessica Elliott Dennison is published by Hardie Grant (£16.99). To order your copy for £14.99, plus p&p, call 0844 871 1514 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk

Tomato, nectarine and burrata with salsa verde and toasted sourdough

Tossing the tomatoes in a little vinegar, oil, salt and sugar will draw out their natural sweetness, releasing more fragrant juices for you to mop up with the sourdough. Remember to use ripe tomatoes at room temperature for this, and if you don’t have salsa verde, or the time to make some, a few basil leaves and an extra splash of vinegar will work brilliantly instead.

SERVES

4

INGREDIENTS

For the salsa verde

• small bunch of parsley, leaves only

• small bunch of basil, leaves only

• small bunch of mint, leaves only

• 1 garlic clove

• 1½ tbsp capers

• 30g anchovies in olive oil (drained weight)

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• 2 tbsp white-or red- wine vinegar

• 120ml extra-virgin olive oil

For the salad

1. 550g ripe tomatoes, at room temperature (a variety of colours is nice)

2. 2 tsp red-wine vinegar

3. 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

4. ½ tsp sea-salt flakes

5. 1 tsp sugar (ideally white)

6. 2 ripe nectarines, at room temperature

7. 4 slices sourdough bread

8. 2 medium balls burrata

METHOD

1. To make the salsa verde, finely chop the herbs, garlic, capers and anchovies together on a board then place in a small bowl. Stir in the mustard, vinegar and olive oil. Store in a jar or airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.

2. Roughly chop the tomatoes, aiming for big, random shapes that will hold the salsa verde, not uniform ones. Put them in a medium bowl along with the vinegar, oil, salt and sugar.

3. Halve the nectarines, discard the stones then tear into large chunks and add to the tomatoes. Gently toss then set aside to marinate.

4. Toast or griddle the bread.

5. Spoon the tomato mixture on to a large serving platter, including all the marinade juices. Tear over the burrata then drizzle over the salsa verde to finish. Serve immediately with the bread.

Halloumi, pickled watermelon and spelt

SERVES

4

INGREDIENTS

• 350g spelt

• 3 tbsp vinegar

• 1½ tbsp sugar

• ½ tsp sea-salt flakes

• 1 small red onion, peeled and halved

• 150g sugar snap peas

• 6 jarred sun-dried tomatoes, plus 2½ tbsp infused oil from the jar

• 250g halloumi

• 1 small watermelon (450g flesh)

• small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves only

• small bunch of dill, leaves only

• small bunch of mint, leaves only

• 200g radishes, thinly sliced

• juice of 1 lime

• 3 tbsp dukkah (optional)

METHOD

1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the spelt for the time stated on the packet. Refresh under cold water, drain and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, combine the vinegar, sugar and half the salt in a large bowl. Finely slice the onion into half-moons, and stir through the vinegar mixture to quickly pickle.

3. Next, fill a frying pan with 2cm of water. Bring to a rapid boil then blanch the sugar snap peas for 1 minute. Refresh under cold water, drain thoroughly then set aside.

4. Wipe out the pan with a few sheets of kitchen paper then heat 1 tbsp of the sun-dried-tomato oil over a high heat. Crumble in bite-size chunks of the halloumi (discarding any liquid from the packet) and fry for 3-4 minutes until golden. Set aside.

5. Chop the watermelon into large chunks (discarding the seeds and skin) and add to the onion-pickle mixture for 5 minutes. Roughly chop the sun-dried tomatoes and finely chop the herbs.

6. Place the spelt, onion and pickled watermelon (not the pickling juice), sugar snap peas, tomatoes, remaining tomato oil, herbs, radishes and remaining salt in a large mixing bowl.

7. Squeeze in the lime juice, gently toss with your hands so that everything is evenly distributed then transfer to a platter. Top with the halloumi and dukkah, if using.

Broccoli, peas and butter beans with herby yogurt and Parmesan

I’ll often make a double batch of this dressing, then toss the extra through a bowl of pasta for a speedy meal the next day. Any large handful of soft green herbs would work well.

SERVES

4

INGREDIENTS

• 350g Tenderstem or purple sprouting broccoli

• 300g frozen peas

• 100g pine nuts

• 2 x 400g tins butter beans in water, rinsed and drained

• 2½ tbsp capers, roughly chopped

• 20g Parmesan

For the dressing

• 125g natural yogurt

• ½ small garlic clove

• small bunch of basil

• small bunch of dill

• small bunch of mint, leaves only

• 1½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

• ¼ tsp sea-salt flakes

• zest and juice of ½-1 lemon

METHOD

1. Bring a medium pan of water to the boil. Trim the ends off the broccoli then blanch for 3 minutes until vibrant green. Remove with a slotted spoon, rinse under cold water then drain in a colander and set aside.

2. Add the peas to the boiling water and cook for 1-2 minutes, rinse under cold water and drain completely.

3. Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan over a high heat for 2–3 minutes until lightly golden and releasing their natural oils. (Pine nuts can burn easily, so stir frequently.) Transfer to a plate and set aside to cool.

4. Blitz half the peas with the yogurt, garlic, herbs, oil, salt and zest and juice of half the lemon in a food processor. Taste – you may want to add the rest of the lemon – then transfer to a large mixing bowl.

5. Toss in the butter beans, remaining peas, pine nuts, capers and broccoli. Finely grate over the Parmesan.

Hot-smoked salmon, avocado and grapefruit, with pickled radishes

If you have any good bread to hand, this would also make a happy tray of open sandwiches.

SERVES

4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 small red onion, finely sliced

• 100g radishes, finely sliced

• juice of 1 lemon

• ¼ tsp sea-salt flakes

• 2 tsp fennel seeds

• 55g sunflower seeds

• 120g rocket

• 2 preserved lemons (optional)

• 250g hot-smoked salmon

• 2 ripe avocados, halved and stones removed

• 2 ruby grapefruits

• small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves only, roughly chopped

• 2½ tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

METHOD

1. Place the onion and radishes in a small bowl. Squeeze over the lemon juice, then stir in the salt and set aside to pickle lightly.

2. Meanwhile, toast the fennel and sunflower seeds in a dry frying pan over a high heat for 2-3 minutes, to release their natural oils. Transfer to a plate to cool.

3. Wash the rocket in a basin of cold water (this will freshen and crisp the leaves), pat dry then place in a large mixing bowl.

4. Cut the skin off the preserved lemons and finely slice, if using.

5. Flake the salmon and slice the avocados. Cut off the top and bottom of the grapefruits, and then carefully slice away the peel and white pith. Slice into segments.

6. Add the parsley, preserved lemons, salmon, avocado and grapefruit to the rocket, along with the pickled onion and radishes, including the pickling juice and any remaining grapefruit juice.

7. Drizzle over the oil then, using your hands, gently toss to ensure the salad is evenly dressed. Crush or roughly chop the cooled sunflower and fennel seeds then scatter over to finish. Serve immediately.