Anatomy of a Delish Salad I

When it comes to healthier eating, salads always pop in my mind, but are quite often thought of as a side dish or a light lunch item, and not often a main meal choice. It's always nice to treat yourself, and this blog has largely been centred on the treating side, but eating well should also mean balancing those indulgent treats with things that are deliciously healthy!
Lately, I've become really interested in 'super foods' and wellness eating, and the best way to start, with the summer months on arrival, is to jazz up the good old salad.

Salads in my mind should contain 5 key things; A good base, a key flavour, some form of crunch, some form of protein to fill you up, and obviously some sort of visual appeal to make you want to eat it all up! All these 5 things apply to salads of any form, full vegetarian or not!

Anatomy of a delish salad I

This grilled peach, goat cheese and honey chilli salad is just something I drummed up with summer fruits on my mind.

As long as you the have five key things I listed above, you are sorted for a guaranteed delish salad! In this salad there was:

1. BASE - Mixed Baby Lettuce & Baby Kale
2. KEY FLAVOUR - Grilled Peaches & Honey Chilli dressing
3. CRUNCH - Toasted (crushed) Pistachios
4. PROTEIN - Goat Cheese
5. VISUAL - Red Garnet micro herb

The dressing should have a bit of tang and a bit of depth. A combined flavour that complements the key flavour of the salad itself. The dressing to coat is super easy! Just:

• Mix together equal parts (in this case I used a teaspoon) of warmed Manuka Honey & Olive oil. 
• Mix in a quarter of a fresh long red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
• Whisk altogether with a squeeze of fresh lemon 

During this shoot, I discovered it's actually quite hard to photograph salads. Short of dousing it with loads of dressing, these photos may make the salad look dry, but trust me, I drizzled the dressing all over this bad boy salad and the sauce simply nestled at the bottom by the time I took this shot.

You may have seen me post a pic of this salad on instagram, and while Jase doesn't really like unusual combinations like peaches and cheese, he actually enjoyed it because of the complementing flavours of honey, chilli and lemon (sweet, hot and sour) that enveloped the salad.

Its sometimes tricky to make healthy things appealing, but I love the challenge of making things pretty. Especially things that are good for you! I mean if it doesn't make you want to dive right in then what's the point?

Happy eating!
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