Well dressed

Mix and match herbs and spices to take dressings around the globe

Ilove the chop-and-toss approach to summer cooking, those one-dish meals you can throw together with the bounty of summer produce that don’t require any cooking, except perhaps some quickly grilled meat. When it’s hot and I don’t feel like cooking, this is my favourite way to eat.

Now that my garden is in full summer production I’ve been on a run of various iterations of this theme. If we have steak at hand, it often ends up in a Thai-style beef salad. I start with a big bowl of chopped cucumber and tomatoes, thinly sliced red peppers and spring onions, some crunchy lettuce and loads of fragrant herbs such as basil, mint and Vietnamese mint. The steak goes on the barbecue and, after it has rested, is thinly sliced and added to the salad, then the whole lot gets tossed together with a zippy Asian dressing. In less than 15 minutes dinner is on the table and, best of all, there are no pots and pans to clean up.

Regardless of the kind of salad you’re planning, the dressing is the essence of the whole thing. With a good dressing, even the simplest of salad ingredients shine.

I find that working in flavour families is the best approach. If I’m using plain yoghurt as a base and looking for a Middle-Eastern flavour, I always add garlic crushed with salt, lemon, perhaps a spoonful of tahini and a little cumin, Moroccan spice mix or smoked paprika. Dill, mint or parsley are all good herbs to complement the flavours.

If it’s an Indian-style yoghurt dressing I want, then coarsely ground toasted spices such as cumin, coriander and a little fennel or fenugreek will deliver the right balance, along with garlic, ginger and turmeric for colour. Coriander leaves work well too.

Mediterranean dressings usually involve olive oil and wine vinegar or sherry vinegar, salt, pepper and a good dollop of Dijon mustard to make the mixture emulsify. Garlic is optional. Often I will turn this mixture into more of a deli dressing by adding chopped Kalamata olives, capers and semi-dried tomatoes. If Italy is where my palate is heading, then pesto is a good base, thinned to a drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and seasoned with a little salt, lemon zest and, perhaps, some parmesan.

For Southeast Asian flavours it’s all about chillies, fish sauce, vinegar or lime juice with added aromatics such as garlic, lemongrass, ginger, lime zest and shredded kaffir lime leaves. And to go Japanese I look to soy sauce, ginger and sesame — either in a vinaigrette or mixed into a mayo — to take the flavours in the right direction.