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SIMPLE GREEN SALAD

Years ago, I read a great old American cookbook from the 1920s or ’30s. It was a true relic of its time and place, of a small Midwestern town and its no-nonsense farmwives. My favorite recipe in the book was for boiled corn. It instructed the cook to set a pot of water to boil on the stove, walk out to the cornfield and pick several ears of corn with bright green husks and dark brown silk, then return to the kitchen, husk the ears, pop them into the boiling water, and pull them out as soon as the water returned to a boil. Happy days. The focus wasn’t so much on all the things you might do with the corn as on how to pick the best corn and simply cook it optimally—set the water to boiling before you even leave the house, because sweet corn starts losing its flavor the moment it’s picked. I love that mentality. Here all you have to do is find the most beautiful salad leaves and dry them thoroughly after rinsing so dressing won’t just slide off them.

You wouldn’t get out of the shower and put on your clothes without drying off first, right? Salads don’t like getting dressed when they’re wet either. Oil does not get along with water. The drier your salad leaves, the better your dressing will cling to them. I think about this in terms of making salads “waterproof.” After you rinse your leaves and give them a few good spins in a salad spinner, spread them out on a clean kitchen towel and let them air-dry for a bit.

Then you add the appropriate amount of dressing: It’s all about hitting that gentle balance where the dressing is in service to the greens—amplifying them rather than masking them. You have a role in composing the salad, but its parts, if well chosen, will already be perfect. Go to the farmers’ market (or your own garden) and choose what’s in season: a handful of springy bitter frisée, or some peppery mizuna, or tender, ruffly leaf lettuce, in combination or alone.

Serves 1

3 ounces mixed salad greens—the freshest and most local you can get—washed and dried

About 2 tablespoons Balsamic Dressing (recipe follows)

Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Just before you’re ready to serve the salad, put your clean, dry leaves in a nice big bowl. Add the dressing—just enough to lightly coat the leaves. Gently toss the leaves with your hands, lightly glossing them with dressing. Sprinkle a little salt over the leaves and then add a turn or two of black pepper. Gently toss the leaves again. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or pepper if you’d like.