More than just salad

I have a bit of a thing about salads. Maybe it was all those years being a vegetarian that did it for me.

I tasted the most gorgeous salad on Market Kitchen yesterday, which was part of a "Beetroot Masterclass". I know prior to tasting the salad, we were cracking jokes about the need for a beetroot masterclass, but in fact, I was completely impressed. I normally roast my beetroot, but steaming it just adds another dimension to the beets.

Jeremy Lee made a steamed beetroot salad with boiled egg, lambs lettuce, watercress and (made-from-scratch) salad cream. The combination was just incredible. The steamed beetroot was truly gorgeous - the colours on the plate were brilliant.

I made a lovely salad the other evening: Courgette ribbons, strawberries, crushed walnuts, goats cheese and fresh coriander. The flavours, textures and colours work really well together, and I love strawberries, goats cheese and coriander as a combination of flavours. I'm doing the courgette ribbons a lot lately as it's so easy and a perfect way to serve what could be an otherwise wintery vegetable in summer. It also brings a bit more depth to the salad.

I still have never managed to perfect the sublime carrot dressings that I had in New York a few years ago. I also had an amazing beetroot dressing (vegetable-based salad dressings must have been very on trend at the time) which I am definitely going to be trying out.