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Oct 17, 2024

Summer Salad Club: A healthy lunch to get you through the week

This is an excerpt from Summer Salad Club, a six-week newsletter celebrating salad. To sign up for this free newsletter, go to globe.com/summersaladclub, or scan the QR code below. It’s a fine line

This is an excerpt from Summer Salad Club, a six-week newsletter celebrating salad. To sign up for this free newsletter, go to globe.com/summersaladclub, or scan the QR code below.

It’s a fine line between an everyday salad and a trendy grain bowl. Take salad, add grains: Grain bowl! Call it what you want, it’s what you want for lunch more often than not. You can pay $14 for a bowl at your local takeout shop, where it comes with a groovy name like Avocado Adventure Bowl or Green Guru Bowl. Or you can buy a few ingredients, do a little advance prep at the start of the week (cook some farro or brown rice, blend up a fun dressing, maybe boil a few eggs), and be ready with a healthy, delicious lunch for the next few days.

One of the best things about salads with grains — er, I mean grain bowls — is that they’re flexible. They can be made mainly with things you have on hand already. The dish is more of a template, a general idea. If I were better with graphics, I’d design you a Salad Wheel you could spin to choose your own lunch adventure on command.

That’s OK. We can do something similar with words. A good grain-salad-bowl-thinger contains complementary parts. You want a lot of textures: crunchy, leafy, crisp, smooth, creamy, juicy. You want contrasting flavors: earthy, sweet, sour, salty, astringent, rich, maybe spicy. Sometimes the more ingredients the merrier, but you can also find perfection in just a few (see: ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and olive oil). Choose one or more from each (or most) of the following categories, combine in a bowl, and you’ve got lunch.

The salad wheel

Greens: mesclun, arugula, watercress, spinach, kale, bibb lettuce, romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, thin-sliced cabbage.

Grains etc.: quinoa, farro, bulgur, millet, brown rice, white rice, black rice, rice noodles, couscous, orzo.

Vegetables and fruit: cucumber, carrot, celery, bell pepper, radish, snap peas, tomato, olive, avocado, corn, green beans, fennel, jicama, cauliflower, broccoli, beets, mushrooms, slivered shallots/red onions, chopped scallions, grapes, orange segments, peach, nectarine, mango, watermelon.

Protein: chickpeas, lentils, black beans, cannellini, tofu, tempeh, hummus, hard-cooked eggs, tuna, sardines, sausage, pepperoni, ham, turkey, leftover cooked chicken, steak, salmon, or other meat or seafood.

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Garnish: chevre, feta, shaved Parmesan, fresh mozzarella, blue cheese, chopped fresh herbs (such as parsley, basil, cilantro, mint, chives, and/or dill), crumbled bacon, furikake, pepperoncini, capers, dried cranberries, raisins, dates, pomegranate seeds, hot sauce, tahini.

Crunch: croutons, peanuts, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, pepitas, pine nuts, Parmesan crisps, crushed tortilla chips, popcorn, wasabi peas, crispy fried onions.

Dressing: lemon juice, lime juice, drizzles of your favorite oil and vinegar, Dijon mustard vinaigrette, ranch, blue cheese, Caesar, miso-ginger (see recipe below).

Take a spin and you might wind up eating: a tabbouleh-esque riff with bulgur, fennel, cucumbers, fresh herbs, and pine nuts; arugula with oranges, dates, almonds, shaved Parmesan, and a drizzle of good olive oil; brown rice with black beans, bell pepper, tomato, radish, avocado, corn, cilantro, and sliced red onion; cabbage slaw with carrots, red bell peppers, cilantro, mint, shredded chicken, and chopped peanuts; or farro topped with kale, beets, creamy goat cheese, pepitas, and balsamic vinaigrette. You can even give your creation its own groovy name: [evocative adjective or most exciting ingredient name] + [bucket list activity or timeless occupation] + bowl. (Bonus points for alliteration.)

If you’re not in the mood to create your own Lentil Warrior Bowl or Serene Safari Bowl at the moment, just follow this recipe.

Is there a salad you eat all summer long? Drop us a line to share your favorites. If you make this recipe, let us know how you like it, and how you changed it to make it your own.

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GRAIN BOWLS WITH MISO-GINGER TOFU | BY SALLY PASLEY VARGAS

SERVINGS: 4 PRINT RECIPE

DRESSING

1 piece (2 inches) fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

½ clove garlic, thinly sliced

¼ cup water

3 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons white miso

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

2 teaspoons dark brown sugar

⅓ cup olive oil

1. In a blender, combine the ginger and garlic. Pulse until finely chopped.

2. Add the water, lime juice, miso, soy sauce, brown sugar, and olive oil. Blend until smooth.

TOFU

1 tablespoon oil (for the dish)

1 block (12 ounces) pressed firm tofu, cut into 1-inch cubes

4 scallions, trimmed and cut into thin slices

1. Set the oven at 450 degrees. Oil an 8- or 9-inch baking dish.

2. Pat the tofu dry with a paper towel.

3. In a bowl, toss the tofu with half the scallions and 3 tablespoons of the dressing. Spread it in one layer in the baking dish. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove and toss with the remaining scallions.

RICE

6 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup black rice (forbidden rice)

1. In a large saucepan over high heat, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add the rice

2. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Taste some grains; they will still be slightly chewy.

3. Drain in a fine-meshed sieve; set aside.

VEGETABLES

1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces

6 ounces sugar snap peas

4 radishes, thinly sliced

Leaves from ½ bunch fresh cilantro

Sesame seeds (optional)

1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the asparagus and cook for 2 minutes. Add the snap peas and cook 1 minute more, or until vegetables are tender but still a little crisp. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water; pat dry.

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2. Divide the rice among 4 bowls (or lidded containers, if making ahead). Top each bowl with tofu, asparagus, snap peas, radishes, and cilantro. Drizzle over remaining dressing to taste. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using.

Pair it with:

“Hippie Food: How Back-to-the-Landers, Longhairs, and Revolutionaries Changed the Way We Eat,” by Jonathan Kauffman. Explore your grain bowl’s origins via this entertaining and enlightening history.

“Mother Grains: Recipes for the Grain Revolution,” by Roxana Jullapat, a cookbook that will teach you to cook — but most especially to bake — with all kinds of grains. Because healthy grain bowls are great, but sometimes you need sorghum chocolate chip cookies.

“The Wind That Shakes the Barley,” by Dead Can Dance. More grains and revolution! One of many versions of this traditional ballad about an Irish rebel heading off to fight for the cause. (There’s a movie by the same name, costarring Cillian Murphy.)

SALAD TIPS

Devra First can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @devrafirst.