Did you know that not only can salads be added to dishes raw, they can also be fried, boiled, blanched, poached, and even stewed?

Types of salads. And how to choose among them?
Let’s sort it out one by one.

Iceberg
A versatile salad that is quite inexpensive and keeps for a long time. I love it and buy it more than other salads.

• Juicy, neutral in flavor and goes with just about anything.
• Mix it with veggies and dressing and you’re ready for a fresh salad. You can add it to stewed veggies, stir-fry style.

Dubolist
If about 5 years ago I found it completely unpalatable, the last 2 years it’s very good!

• The leaves are juicy but thin and soft. The taste is very reminiscent of chard or young beet tops.
• Often sold in pots, which makes it more comfortable to store.
  Used for fresh vegetable salads and for garnishing.

Rucola
A popular type of salad that is used all over the world and a huge number of classic salads.

• Bitter in taste, but this bitterness is light and pleasant.
• Used in salads with fruit, meat, poultry, vegetables. Sometimes added to pasta or pizza. Arugula is also sometimes used to make pesto.

Stores well and if you are used to its flavor, it will take up residence in your refrigerator.

Frisee
A salad with spicy leaves.

• Mild in flavor, but sometimes with a slight bitterness. Pretty juicy, but its main advantage is its appearance.
• It looks beautiful and lush. That’s why dish decoration is the main thing to buy it for.

Radicchio
A red sprout that looks like an iceberg.

• Rarely sold whole because it is very bitter.
• More often it can be found in prepared salad leaf blends. Therefore, if you do not like bitter lettuce, it is better to bypass such sets.

How to prepare salads?
In principle, almost all salads can be prepared in some way by heat treatment, but there are, as they say, nuances!

Some of the salads require special preparation, processing, or a combination of seasonings to become tastier. And some are easier to work with and don’t require much skill.

How to fry a salad?
We take romano or iceberg and cut into 1-2 cm wide strips.
Then we start roasting zucchini, eggplant, onion, sweet bell pepper, garlic.
Near the end we add salad leaves, soy sauce and fresh herbs. You get roasted vegetables! In our vegetable course, we cook stir-fry on this principle.

How do you cook a salad?
This method is mostly used to make mashed potato soup.
For this, potatoes are boiled and at the end spinach, arugula and parsley are added to it.
All this is beaten with a blender and brought to taste with salt, pepper, garlic. You can add cream or olive oil to make the soup heartier.

Blanching.
This is a good way to prepare salads in order to make them softer and brighter in taste. For example, iceberg can be put in boiling water with salt for 30-60 seconds.
After that, cool it in ice water and dry it. Can be used for salads or pickling.

Stewing Salads.
It’s easy here!
Prepare your favorite stew dish. For example, a vegetable stew.
And at the end, when almost everything is ready, we add iceberg, spinach, arugula, romano. They will become softer in 2-3 minutes, and the stew will be brighter in flavor and appearance.

Simmering.
This is cooking in a small amount of water or even in its own juice.
To do this, put the lettuce in a pan or sauté pan, salt, pepper, seasoning. For example, add garlic, a little sugar and nutmeg to the spinach.
After that, cook it under a lid for 1-2 minutes. You can add olive or butter for a brighter flavor.