A bit on the side

This issue, Scotland Magazine's resident chef Sue Lawrence breathes new life in to the humble salad

Cold meat and salad. Pork pie and salad.

Scotch egg and salad. These uninspiring words bring back memories of the bad old days when a salad meant an accompaniment to some sort of cold meat – invariably tasteless and over-chilled, straight from the fridge – with an afterthought of lettuce, tomato and cucumber alongside. Cress and radish roses were added if you were lucky; bleeding beetroot and greyringed hard-boiled eggs, if you weren't.

Thankfully the salad has been given a complete make-over since then and is no longer regarded merely as a bit on the side.

Salad is now the star of the show. It is served in architecturally constructed hillocks capped with deep-fried herbs, leaves or roots – or simply slung in to a bowl for starter or main course, hot or cold, in summer or in winter.

Now almost every ingredient you see can be converted in to a salad, and as much care now goes into the choice of oils and vinegars for the dressing as into the choice of accompanying wines. And whereas bottled dressings and salad cream still continue to sell and sell, it is so much more satisfying to know you have made one yourself by simply sloshing some quality oil, vinegar and condiments over your thirsty leaves.

Who needs a bottle of shop-bought dressing when you have gutsy balsamic vinegar, a robust olive oil and a hunk of parmesan to hand?

Although salads are far more interesting and versatile these days, it is salutary to remember that we are not the first to discover the divers...

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• By : Sue Lawrence
• In : Food
• Issue : 29
• Page : 48
• Words : 1,006