Peach, Burrata and Summer Herb Salad

and all my tricks to making insanely good salads

It’s hot. Everywhere. We’ve finally all come together at peak summer and when this time hits, it’s peak salad season. When people learn that I cook they inevitably ask me what my favorite thing to make is. The short answer is, I love it all, but if you would ask the people that eat my food the most, I believe they would say that salads are my superpower.

In culinary school we learned some key salad basics like for a vinaigrette you want to measure one part acid to three parts oil. If you keep this in your mind, you can no doubt whip up a dressing that can do the job. Every week in school, we had a focus, with a lot of recipes we would make and then we would sit down and taste each other’s food. One salad that I had to make was a Insalata Bianca or a ”white salad”. I remember the recipe to this day because it wasn’t the typical salad I was used to. It consists of thinly sliced fennel, celery, radishes, and endive and then you dress it with a simple vinaigrette that is olive oil, garlic, lemon, and white wine vinegar. You top it with beautiful shards of parmesan. It was my recipe to make that day and share with my teacher and fellow students. When I dressed it and tasted it after following the recipe it didn’t knock me off my socks at all, but I followed the recipe to the letter and presented it anyway. When it came time to try my salad, everyone was quiet and didn’t say a word. They had the same thoughts as I did. It was lacking and didn’t really pop. This was the beginning of me understanding my number one rule which is this, a recipe is just a guide.

I went home, cracked open my hugs binder and decided I wanted to crack the code on this salad that looked so promising but left much to be desired. I played, I tasted, I added more lemon, more salt, way more parm and used a mandoline instead of trying to slice all the veggies with my chef’s knife. Low and behold, a star was born. This salad rocked and my love affair with composing salads began.

In this season of salad making, I encourage you to approach salads this way. With a little bit of manipulation and magic. My Cook with Confidence salad rules go as follows: