Wednesday Wind-Down: Simple Japanese Salad

I had a long weekend in New York last December, and as always when in New York, ate like a king.  Not one bad or disappointing meal over five days, thanks to my NY-based friends who know all the best spots.  The very last meal I had before flying home was in a quiet Japanese cafe near Penn Station, before I got the train to the airport.  My good friend Hegsie took me there, saying that it’s not a great part of Manhattan for restaurants, but that this place was ok.  I found it better than ok – I had a very simple but completely delicious seared tuna salad, which had beautiful light and delicate flavours.  It was a gorgeous last meal and set me up perfectly for the flight home.

The key was in the dressing, which was extremely simple – just light soy sauce and lime juice.  It sounds basic, and it is, but it’s so fresh-tasting and delicate.

For your own version of this salad, you can have whatever meat or fish you like: I’ve done it with chicken but think that grilled salmon is the best match for it.  I’ve even tried it with frozen salmon from Lidl and it was perfectly fine.

Ingredients

• Salad leaves of your choice.  A mix that contains baby spinach and lamb’s lettuce would be particularly good, I think.
• Salmon fillet (or any other fish or meat that you like)
• A few veg.  Last time I made this, I used finely grated carrot, matchstick slices of cucumber and chopped up raw sugar snap peas.  Any combination is good, really.
• Nice optional extras: peanuts, a chopped-up chilli and fresh coriander.
• Light soy sauce and the juice of a lime, combined in a small bowl.

Instructions

1. Grill your salmon for about 10 minutes.  I like to prepare mine with a light glaze of honey and soy.
2. Put all the veg in a big bowl and pour over the dressing.  Toss to coat the ingredients.
3. When the salmon is cooked, put it into the salad, where it will flake up beautifully.