Summer salads

Recipes that puts “rabbit food” at the top of the table

The hottest days make it easy to entice even the most dedicated carnivore to enjoy salads, but you do have to offer a lot more than just a plate of lettuce. These recipes put meat and potatoes firmly in second place.

Not too long ago, the only type of lettuce one could find in the shops was trusty old last-foreverin-the-fridge iceberg. But I recently experienced a mind shift when iceberg was served to me in quite an unusual way: an entire head of lettuce had been sliced into wedges and presented with a blue-cheese dressing to drizzle over it. I immediately started to create a variety of interesting combinations that put “rabbit food” in its well-deserved place as star of the summer table. • In “Garden Diary” on page 80, Jane Griffiths, author of Jane’s Delicious Garden, offers tips for growing your own salad leaves.