Simple Salad with a Honey-Mustard Vinaigrette

Salads. Not overloaded necessarily but they absolutely need to be tasty. Not bland or boring. This salad uses only a few ingredients with a zingy mustard-honey vinaigrette to complement it. Throw a few lettuce leaves together, tear up some coriander or parsley and then add any other vegetables you find in your fridge. In its most basic form, this salad would comprise of lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and grated carrots. This salad is a staple for me because it's so simple and serves as an uncomplicated side for many mains. It is important to make sure you wash your vegetables thoroughly, before eating. In the past, we would use a solution of potassium permanganate to wash our lettuce but more recently, I simply do a rinse in clear water, water with some vinegar and then salty water. It may seem like overkill but rather safe than sorry.

For the vinaigrette, this is my go-to, regardless of what kind of vinegar I have available. I do find it’s best tasting when made with apple cider vinegar but use whatever is available. A trick to quickly making a vinaigrette is following: get yourself a small glass jar or even an empty marmalade jar, with a lid then dump all your ingredients in there, close it tightly and “shake it like a polaroid picture”. It comes out perfect every time.

Garlic can be overwhelming in salads if they’re not roasted, so a good tip is to rub the insides of the jar or the salad bowl with a clove to get that subtle garlic taste, and not the strong vampire killing kind. You can chop up shallots into the vinaigrette and shake all that together. Shallots are generally milder than onions and the vinegar will take away any extra sharpness.