Salad Porn

I'm back on my quest to convince myself that salads are not just edible, but they can also be interesting, delicious, and filling. Here's my current entry:



The greens are a combination of arugula and frisee. They're topped with baby carrots, sauteed onions, California Crottin goat cheese, sliced apricots, and pepper bacon.

The dressing is a homemade vinaigrette that's blended with apple sauce to make it creamier. (Gravenstein cider vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, apple sauce, sea salt, pepper, mustard, garlic).

As I was making this in the office kitchen today, two different coworkers complimented me on how fabulous it looked. The goat cheese was almost too good for a salad, which sort of makes it perfect-- I feel like I'm eating very well while at the same time stuffing myself with leafy green stuff.

Here are some previous salad creations.

Looks yummy!

You can't go wrong with bacon and goat cheese. That looks great. I am looking forward to adding fruit to my diet.

Had to laugh at the title of your post. Did you know there is a website www.foodporn.com? It's hilarious. All food photography and if I wasn't on Atkins right now, I'd be salivating for sure.

Looks almost like mine -- spinach, 1/2 oz. craisins, 1/2 serving mandarin oranges (no sugar added), a few dates, grilled chicken, and makato ginger dressing. Yummy!!

I really wanted figs, but had to settle for apricots. I briefly considered kiwis, but wasn't sure how they'd work with goat cheese.

How is your quest going? Have you had a change of heart on salads?

Thanks for posting your gratuitous salad photos for us to salivate to in the privacy of our bedroo....er....kitchens

Seriously, your combinations of ingredients are always intriguing and aspire me to think outside the box more. Bacon and apricots paired together with goat cheese- genius!

Hoser, keep those wonderful recipes & photo's coming. You've inspired me BIG TIME! I have no imagination to mix ingredients and you have a great talent for doing so. Thank you so much for sharing.

I have no photos, but the one I did recently was this:

Romaine lettuce
Pomegranate seeds
Bacon bits
Blue cheese
Apricot vinaigrette

I really like making my own salad dressings. I start with extremely high-quality vinegar and olive oil, and from there I add whatever seasonings I feel like using at the time. Three parts oil, one part vinegar, a little bit of sugar, a dash of salt and... some combination of cracked pepper, mustard, garlic, whatever fresh herbs I have laying around, shallots, or whatever else seems like it wants to go into the mix. Adjust to taste.

Alternately, I do fruit vinaigrettes. In that case I do two parts oil, one part vinegar, leave the sugar out, and toss in some sort of fruit. Often I use apple sauce (good stuff, organic), but I've also used mango and apricots.

Have you ever tried truffle oils? OMG! They are so good. And the flavor is so strong that you only need a few drops of the oil.

Oh yes. I keep both white and black truffle oil around the house as staples.

oh that looks good! i love a fruit on my salad.

Looks delish! I love love love goat cheese.