WHAZHOT · MADE IN FLO' · ONLY IN FLO' · DISCOUNT COUPONS
sections
Booking
.
culture
.
Keeping well with greens! Salads with a difference
[Susan Glasspool]
Salad? Don’t turn up your nose! Apart from being a healthy way of eating, especially in summer, inventive salads can also be delicious, apart from being quick and easy to make. In Italy a salad can include almost any kind of raw vegetable - from cauliflowers to artichokes, oranges to baby carrots - try some experiments yourself! Spring and summer mean fresh and tender leaves, which can come in a variety of wild salads and roots (stop by any good greengrocer - they always sell a selection), which alone can create a deliciously crunchy and colourful meal. Or try combining finely sliced fennel with round slices of orange, seasoned with salt, black pepper and olive oil. More filling are finely sliced artichokes (minus the tougher outer leaves) mixed with chippings of Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and again loads of olive oil. Young artichokes are anyway delicious raw - just dip the tender part of the leaf in good olive oil, vinegar and seasoning and you have an unforgettable meal. This type of salad dip can be eaten with other crudities, like raw carrot and celery sticks, according to taste.
The raw broad beans eaten with the local pecorino or sheeps cheese could also be considered a salad and even the classic starters of slices of pear and cheese, or ham with melon or fresh figs.
You can tart up any salad that looks rather uninteresting by adding chips of Parmesan or chopped walnuts or even little chunks of fried bacon or bread. Tomatoes are always a delicious addition to any good mixed salad but try them finely sliced with fresh spring onions, origano and, of course, lashings of good olive oil.
The salad par excellance in Florence of course is the famous Panzanella, a delicious mixture of stale bread, sliced tomatoes, onions, sometimes cucumber and other salad ingredients, basil, vinegar, salt, pepper and plenty of olive oil.
And what about all that olive oil (preferably from Tuscany), we mentioned? It is absolutely essential for a good salad, which can be completed with ordinary wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar or lemon according to taste.
A master’s touch is the addition of a few fresh basil leaves that give flavour and perfume... Visit Oleum Olivae in Via Sant'Egidio, 22r - where you can buy (and taste beforehand) some splendid oils and vinegars and more besides!
Acqua Al 2 in Via della Vigna Vecchia, 40r is specialised in creative salads that are mouthwatering to the palate and do not harm those well intentioned slimmer’s diets!
Fashionable O!O Bar con Cucina in Piazza Piattellina 7r (% 055 212917) offers menus containing a blend of Tuscan menus with Mediterranean influences. Therefore fresh salads galore with 'organic art food', also on the outdoor terrace.
Hopefully you will take us up on our advice, especially as everyone seems to be frantically dieting after the long - and very cold - winter!
MORE