SALAD DAYS - A review

So today was salad day and to give you a brief rundown of the excitingly healthy and nourishing things that happened today, I present you Vertumnus, Roman God of seasons, change and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees! Here he is, rendered as a sumptuous mixed salad by Arcimboldo.

Quite a flattering portrait wouldn't you say?

Alright. Enough gay banter. I tried 2 salad recipes today. Good old Cesar salad with croutons and a broiled pepper salad that Terence, the other manlyman, suggested. Over last week, I also tried an avocado and prawn salad which the master chef Jerome has qlaerly mastered. I guess what they say about trusting a fat cook is true. Sorry phatboi! You aer t3h ownz!

The avocado and prawn thing, and the pepper thing was not really spectacular. Maybe I'll feature them some other time, when I level up skillz in making those salads. My favourite of the lot was definitely the Caesar Salad. When prepared well, this dish is simple, elegant and delicious. It is truly a beauty to prepare and serve. Here's what I did.

Ingredients

• 2 large crisp heads romaine lettuce
  
• 2 large cloves garlic pressed
• Sea salt
• ¾ cup olive oil
• 2 cups unseasoned toasted croutons
• 1 lemon
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup (1 ounce) Parmesan cheese, grated
• Ground peppercorns
  
• Worcestershire sauce

Before you begin, you should prepare the garlic oil. Place the pressed garlics into a jar of extra virgin olive oil and shake well to combine. Let it stand at room temperature for several hours, preferably overnight.

Romaine lettuce is preferred. It has a sweeter and crisper quality than iceberg. However, if you're in a pinch, iceberg lettuce would suffice as well. Then you will realise how much potential this delicious salad has if you had the best ingredients possible. About 3 to 5 leaves a person is a good estimate if you're preparing this as a main dish. For the smaller leaves, you'll want to leave them as they are. In any case, you won't want to cut or process the leaves too much, because ideally, they should be picked up by hand.

The next key ingredient is the croutons. You could settle with those lousy expensive and utter silly crap they sell in bakeries and supermarkets. OR, you could make your own. Now doesn't that sound like a wonderful idea? This is what I did. I kinda improvised because my kitchen is not exactly adapted to western cooking, but the results are still absolutely delicious. First, cube a few slices of sourdough bread available at the same lousy bakeries and supermarkets. Sprinkle some salt on them and let them dry out in a hot oven with the garlic oil at around 180-200 degrees. Take the pan out every 2-3 minutes and toss the bread cubes and baste them in the garlic oil until they reach a nice golden brown. Take them out once you reach a nice golden brown sheen on them. You'll want them crunchy on the outside, but soft on the inside. They are simply delectable like that.

About 15 minutes before serving, squeeze the lemons into a pitcher. Then boil the eggs for a minute. Grate the cheese into another nice little bowl and arrange all of these on a tray along with the rest of the olive oil, the croutons, pepper grinder, salt and Worcestershire. Have large dinner plates chilled, arrange the lettuce in the largest salad bowl you can find and you are ready to go. To prepare the dressing, first pour 4 tablespoons of garlic oil over the leaves and give them a few rolling tosses. Try to avoid bruising it (or yourself) as you go along, but a few injuries are probably unavoidable >< Sprinkle on ¼ teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoon of pepper, 2 more spoonfuls of oil, and give another toss. Pour on the lemon juice, 6 drops of Worcestershire, and break in the eggs. Toss twice, sprinkle on the cheese. Toss once, then sprinkle on the croutons and give two final tosses. That's it! A delicious salad is ready to serve!

The salad has a very wholesome flavour about it. Many other recipes call for vinegar or anchovies or others. I didn't use them mainly because it was too inconvenient to lay my hands on them. Like Mr. Cardini, I simply improvised with what I had on hand, proving once again that a little ingenuity in the kitchen goes a long way. Now go have a healthy food, or the salad hunter will come after you and consume your soul!

The evil one is on the hunt.

Be healthy and prosper,
Salad Meister Wang.