Angela Hartnett’s big summer salads

Serve up a selection of Angela Hartnett’s mix-and-match salads as the main event on a warm weekend

There’s an art to making a good salad. It’s not just a case of throwing it all in a bowl and hoping for the best; you’ve got to be careful not to drown it in vinaigrette or dressing, but on the other hand it needs to be seasoned enough.

I tend to make vinaigrette with vinegar, good olive oil, garlic, and Dijon or English mustard. I chop my garlic straight in, though my mother would always chop a clove and leave it sitting in a jar of vinaigrette to infuse over time. Vinegar is a crucial element, so buy the best you can afford.

Thanks to the creations of the River Café’s Ruth Rogers and Yotam Ottolenghi, our understanding of what a salad can be has expanded – you don’t necessarily always have to add leaves to it. It’s an opportunity to take creative license to add extras such as nuts or spices – to make something unexpected. Lee Tiernan, who runs Black Axe Mangal in London, does a great watermelon salad with dried fish from Chinatown to add umami to it. Don’t be afraid to experiment and push the boat out. Salads are a great way to mix and match flavours and to find a balance of sweet and sour – known in Italy as

agrodolce – that you like. Because they’re served cold, these salads are perfect for preparing in advance when you’re making them for big numbers, keeping the dressing on the side. It’s a healthy, simple way to feed a crowd (by now, you’ll know from my column that I like to serve everything in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves!). Offer them as the main event or as an accompaniment, and precede with a refreshing apéritif – mine’s an Aperol spritz, especially in hot weather!

It’s an opportunity to be creative – to make something unexpected