Annie’s Naturals Farmhouse News

I don't consider myself a creature of habit, especially when it comes to food. But every Thursday evening, I gather with friends for TV, chatter, and bowls full of my "signature salad" -- butter lettuce studded with chunks of creamy avocado, crisp apple, and moons of cucumber, with Annie's Goddess dressing.

There's something about the juxtaposition of the crisp leaves, sweet-tart fruit and silky avocado that works, and the bottled dressing is just a guilty pleasure (don't judge until you've tasted it). Try as I might to change it up, my friends won't hear of it.

Salads in general can engender that sort of devotion. Zuni Cafe's Caesar, Swan Oyster Depot's crab Louie and Delfina's bitter greens with pancetta and walnuts are proof -- removing any of those from the menus would cause an uproar. Yet, as summer approaches, restaurant chefs are also turning salads into palettes for creativity.

In an industry obsessed with daily changing menus, local produce and specialty ingredients, salads -- either consumed as a traditional first course or spun into a full meal -- have become vehicles for ingredients like burrata cheese, kumquats and Marcona almonds. And it doesn't take long for some to generate enough staying power to become a signature dish.

Such has been the case with Nopa's Little Gem salad with creamy herb dressing. "It's our version of Caesar," says chef-owner Laurence Jossel, describing the salad that has found a permanent home on his wildly popular Hayes Valley restaurant menu.

Hugging the leaves is a creamy, egg-based dressing, which he says stems from an old recipe created by the late Elizabeth David, the doyenne of British cooking. His version is swimming with up to five varieties of fresh herbs, though the tarragon stands out above all.

Grated Serena cheese -- a raw cow's milk variety from Three Sisters Farm in Lindsay (Tulare County) -- replaces the Parmesan, though he'll use that, or dry Monterey Jack, in a pinch. Toasty breadcrumbs add crunch, and instead of using romaine, he'll go to great lengths to secure the more delicate Little Gem lettuce, sourcing them from up to four different local farms when they are in season.

Those fist-size heads of tender leaves are cropping up around the Bay Area, making appearances on salad plates at Range, Foreign Cinema and the new Wood Tavern in Oakland. At Pizzeria Picco in Larkspur, the Little Gems mingle with baby greens in a salad flush with strawberries, feta cheese and Marcona almonds.

For chef-owner Bruce Hill, however, the allure of that salad is in the berries.

"I love fruit and greens together," he says. "I'll always serve it at this time of year, when strawberries are at their peak." As the summer progresses, he'll switch to stone fruit, but the basic idea of the greens meshed with bright fruit and high-quality, rich feta to cut through the sweetness, remains. Dressed with roasted red pepper vinaigrette, the salad's flavors are a beacon of summer.

Hill is also not afraid to use expensive, specialty ingredients like Marcona almonds, which some might find wasteful in a dish where the distinct flavor can get lost. But with so many patrons concentrating on starter dishes, it makes sense to use the big guns up front.

Nobody takes this more to heart than Mike Selvera, chef-owner of Bar Crudo in San Francisco, who features both lobster and decadent burrata cheese in a salad that has become one of the restaurant's signature items.

Lobster and burrata? It seems almost sacrilegious to form such an unnatural pairing with these gluttonous ingredients.

"That's why I did it," says Selvera, who defied the "don't pair cheese with seafood" mantra and pushed the envelope with this salad.

Though he changes the secondary ingredients to reflect the seasons -- right now it's tomatoes, English peas and basil -- the lobster, burrata and Banyuls vinaigrette are the anchors.

Charlie Hallowell, chef-owner of Pizzaiolo in Oakland, keeps his offerings seasonal as well, taking advantage of baby beets in a salad laced with spoonfuls of ripe avocado. As the season winds down, he uses tart, baby kumquats and garnet spring onions to flavor the accompanying vinaigrette, and garnishes the plate with wild arugula or other greens, depending on availability.

Hallowell is a master of using what's around to fill his salad plate, an example I follow in my own kitchen as well. That's the beauty of it -- for a home cook or trained restaurant chef, flexibility and experimentation can always lead to curiously good combinations.

Land on one that works, and you might have your own signature salad.

Amanda's Signature Salad Recipe

Source: San Francisco Chronicle