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June 8 - June 15,2003 |
Salad days are here again
Step into spring with colourful insalate both warm and cold
By Rita Simonetta
Originally Published: 2003-06-01
Nothing brightens a table like a colourful salad. And nothing quite says spring like this culinary favourite that can work as a main course, an appetizer or as an accompaniment to a main meal. In Italy, green salads are commonly enjoyed alongside the second course as a side dish.
Alexis Soyer, the famed 19th century French chef praised insalate for their versatility: "What is more refreshing than salads when your appetite seems to have deserted you, or even after a capacious dinner - the nice, fresh, green, and crisp salad, full of life and health, which seems to invigorate the palate and dispose the masticating powers to a much longer duration."
Insalate were also considered a royal delicacy. Mary, Queen of Scots, preferred a mixture of celery root and truffles while King Henry IV of England was partial to boiled potatoes with sardines.
Salad comes from the Latin word for salt because the dish was usually seasoned with a generous amount of the seasoning. It's believed that Greek colonists in Italy were the first to enjoy insalate as we know them today.
Salads have always been regarded as a delicious blending of diverse ingredients that compliment one another. It takes four men to dress a salad, goes the saying. A wise man for the salt, a madman for the pepper, a miser for the vinegar, and a spendthrift for the oil.
But salads have evolved since the days when Italian dictionaries described insalate as a dish made with greens and dressed with salt, oil and wine vinegar or lemon.
Panzanella salad is the delicious result of Italians' imagination and resourcefulness in the kitchen. A mix of stale Italian bread, fresh garden vegetables and plenty of garlic, this insalata can be traced back to the 1500s when artist Bronzino described it in a poem.
Italy's golden apple, the tomato, arrived in Italy in the mid 1500s. And Italian cooking has never been the same. A starring attraction of many a salad, the pomodoro is a wonderful addition to the satisfying Pasta Salad with Olives and Tomatoes.
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