How to keep a pre-made salad fresh
The weather is warming up – and entertaining season is starting up again. Whether you are having guests over, or taking a salad to a friend’s barbeque, this handy tip will help you prep the night before and free you up on the day. Read on to find out how.
Salads are often what you find yourself making hurriedly right before your guests arrive – adding to the stress when you should be doing final tweeks like setting the table or arranging flowers.
You leave salads last because of their tendency to wilt and look sad if prepared too early.
But there is a way to pre-prepare salads several hours earlier or even the night before, and free yourself up on the day of your event. Just follow these steps:
1. Layer your ingredients by placing the more robust vegetables like sliced capsicums, cucumbers or radishes at the bottom of the salad bowl, and the leafy more fragile elements - your lettuce, baby spinach or rocket at the top.
2. Cover this with a damp paper towel, seal the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to 12 hours.
3. Make the dressing and place it in a screw top jar.
4. Put fragile or garnishing elements such as croutons or nuts, in another screw top jar.
5. Right before serving, remove the paper towel, add the garnish elements, the dressing, and toss.
Voilà – a fresh crunchy salad with a minimum of fuss.
