Summer has many charms — the sun lingers late, fireflies abound and vegetables and fruit taste so good, they don’t take much effort to turn into delicious, satisfying dishes. Thankfully, fresh produce hasn’t risen in price as much as other ingredients this year and is especially flavorful now.
We’ve given you loose formulas, much like our no-recipe recipes, for 20 of our favorite combinations. Buy whatever looks and smells the most enticing (and costs the least), then play around with the suggestions below, using amounts that make the most sense to you and your taste. (And if you want exact recipe proportions and instructions, you can find the recipes on New York Times Cooking.)
The dishes below cover all the salad bases: leafy tosses that are crisp and fresh; sturdy mixes that can sit out for a couple hours or be made the day before; hearty pastas, grains and beans that can bulk up — or make — a meal; fruit combinations that hit sweet and savory.
Go ahead and make these your own. Swap out bitter lettuces for milder ones, use a variety of fruits instead of just one kind, go wild with the herbs or banish them (hey, cilantro!). Season to taste — salt heightens flavors, tames bitterness and balances out sweetness and acidity, while pepper adds a floral bite. Whatever you do, don’t sweat it. It’s summertime, and the cooking should be easy.
Bobbi Lin for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Eugene Jho. Prop Stylist: Christina Lane.
LEAFY SALADS
Eric Kim recreates the sweet and savory salad dressing served at many Japanese American restaurants.
Blend a small carrot and a knob of fresh ginger with a hearty glug of olive oil, a couple spoonfuls of rice vinegar, then season with sugar, soy sauce and onion powder. Thin with a little water, then toss with cold crisp leaves of Little Gem or romaine lettuce. Shower with mint.
Arugula Salad With Parmesan
Image
Four simple ingredients share starring roles in Ali Slagle’s guide to this classic salad.
Toss the perkiest baby arugula with olive oil, then sprinkle the greens with just enough fresh lemon juice and salt to balance the bite. Scatter shards of Parmesan on top for its nutty, salty edge.
Radicchio Caesar Salad
Image
Eric embraces the bitterness of radicchio with a lemony garlic and anchovy dressing.
Drain the oil from a tin of anchovies into a skillet. Chop a few of the anchovies and cook, along with bread crumbs, until the crumbs are toasted. Then, chop the rest of the anchovies — save a few for garnish — and whisk them with olive oil, grated garlic, mayo, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and Parmesan. Toss with radicchio and sprinkle with the anchovies and crumbs.
Chicken and Herb Salad With Nuoc Cham
Image
Sweet, salty, savory, spicy: This Vietnamese-inspired dinner salad from Yewande Komolafe hits all those notes.
Whisk together sugar, lime juice, water and fish sauce, adjusting amounts to your preferred balance of sweet, sour and salty, then stir in some chopped garlic and chile (a spicy one). Toss with slivered cabbage, cucumber and bell pepper and shredded cooked chicken. Fold in watercress or arugula, and handfuls of basil and mint. Top with store-bought crispy fried shallots.
Image
Combine crunchy chopped romaine and cucumbers, juicy cherry tomatoes, crisped bacon, hard-cooked (or jammy) eggs, avocado, crumbled blue cheese and scallions. Toss at the table with a simple dressing of olive oil with lemon zest and juice……………….