Gourmet Garden Salads Start With Creative Beginnings

Creative Beginnings

But, sometimes our imagination doesn't quite take shape when we start planting. We suddenly get limited in our thinking when it comes to salads. We know we should plant some lettuce. We know we should plant something to go on top of the lettuce, like tomatoes, and cucumbers.

From the first glimmer of the perfect garden, to the reality of the harvest, something gets lost. It could be all the hard work, or it could be there are too many choices. Perhaps we fall into the same pattern each growing season. No matter what the reason, our beautiful harvest salad bowl becomes mundane.

Is there something we could do between planting leaf lettuce for the bottom of our salad and planting tomatoes for the top? There sure is! We can get our bountiful gourmet salad back in our imagination, in our garden, and on our table by following a few simple tips to create the basis for our beautiful salad. 

Choose Creative Greens For Your Salad Base

Sometimes all a gourmet garden salad needs is different types of greens to make it something unique, interesting, and more flavorful. Step away from the standard lettuce varieties you've planted year after year and consider the countless varieties of lettuce available, and so much more.

You'll recognize some of these greens from a fancy dinner menu. Why not include them in your own garden and on your own table? Plant gourmet greens like arugula, endive, Bibb, Boston, radicchio, watercress, and spinach along with the better known varieties of romaine lettuce and red and green leaf lettuce. A mixture of young salad greens, sometimes called mesclun, can also be found in the garden supply shops to plant for your gourmet salad.

Think beyond lettuce and plant vegetables like kale, kohlrabi, mustard, Swiss chard, escarole, and collard greens. Don't forget red and green cabbage. There are many vegetables that can be turned into the 'bed' to create a new and interesting salad. For instance, grow broccoli and use the stems to create a salad by shredding the tender insides. Shave curls from firm fresh cucumbers to create another surprising basis for a salad bowl.

Sweet onions tossed with balsamic vinaigrette can also form the 'bed' of your salad. Add more crunch with sweet carrot shreds, or even a bit of spicy 'bite' with chopped radishes. Who says a salad has to be 'green?' But, if you want to include some green to keep the comfort level of your salad, flash-blanch some string beans and toss in with the onions. Or, try tossing your sweet onions and balsamic vinaigrette salad with snow peas or cucumber slices. Your 'greens' – the bed or basis of your salad – can really be any color, just as long as it can support the other ingredients.

As you can see, the bed or greens of a good gourmet salad can be as varied as the toppings. Look beyond a leaf of lettuce to find the surprising ingredients needed to bring your dreams of a glorious garden salad to light.