The perfect summer salads

Memorial Day officially ushers in the start of summer cooking. It’s time to bring out the white shoes, the seersucker suit and Aunt Lily’s secret recipe for coleslaw. For the next three months, we’ll all be looking for ways to stay cool and eat light without sacrificing flavor.

All too often, though, our summer salads end up a little disappointing. They’re missing the spark that elevates a dish from good enough to great. To keep your salads from suffering that fate this year, we turned to Jack Bishop, editorial director of America’s Test Kitchen and the tasting lab expert on the public television cooking show, America’s Test Kitchen.

“Most cooks don't understand how little changes can make a big difference in a finished dish. In the test kitchen, we prepare the average recipe 40 times during the development process. Even after 20 years of doing this, I can't always predict how a recipe is going to progress,” Bishop said.

His kitchen’s painstaking testing process has resulted in some great tips for your summer cooking.

For grilled vegetable salads:

Cut your vegetables into sizes that won’t fall through the grates – long strips of zucchini, big pieces of bell pepper, rounds of onion. You can always cut the vegetables to bite size after they’ve finished cooking.

Don’t be in a hurry. Don’t cook your vegetables over a roaring fire. Don’t think, “I’m cooking my steaks over a really hot fire and the vegetables will be just fine,” he said. The vegetables should be nicely browned but not blackened. Plan for about 15 minutes to get them to the right stage.

On a gas grill, cook the vegetables first over medium heat, then let them sit while you crank up the heat and grill your steak or burger. For charcoal, you will want to cook the vegetables while the grill is heating up, or after you've cooked your protein and the coals are dying down.

Grilled vegetables are best served warm or at room temperature.

Your dressing needs to be more than a simple oil and vinegar -- that’s fine for delicate greens.

“This is the place to go for robust and potent. Bring out the mustards, the fresh herbs, the grated lemon zest and even a little bit of raw garlic,” Bishop said.

On potato salads:

“Where do we start?” Bishop asked. “There are so many potato choices and so many dressing choices.”

First, do you want intact piece of potato in your salad? Then go for a red potato.

Do you want a more cohesive potato salad with crumbly bits of potato? Then use a russet.

No matter which type you choose, the key is to cook the potatoes and then dress them with vinegar before you add the remaining ingredients.

“As soon as they come out of the cooking water, drizzle them with the vinegar, mustard, whatever your recipe calls for, and let them soak up the tangy flavors,” Bishop said.

For salads featuring tropical fruits and vegetables:

“Avocadoes and mangoes are delicate so you’ve got to be gentle with them. And you don’t want to overwhelm them with a sharp dressing,” Bishop said. Less is more when thinking about your dressing. But you do want a little pungency from cumin, chile powder or black pepper to add the bite that will balance the natural sweetness of the fruit.

Tommy Atkins mangoes are the variety most often available at the grocery store, but Bishop finds the flesh can be fibrous. He says it’s worth seeking out the smaller Ataulfo mango which has sweeter, silkier flesh.

“It’s more work for less fruit in the end, but you may find it’s worth it,” he said.

Finding a ripe avocado can be a problem. If you can only find underripe avocadoes, putting them in a paper bag with a banana to hasten the ripening actually works, Bishop said.

Don’t chop your fruits and vegetables too small or you’ll end up with something more like a salsa than a salad.

Topper:

These three salads require minimal time in the kitchen and are packed full of flavor. After all, they’re from America’s Test Kitchen, the group that tests the average recipe 40 times during the development process.

French Potato Salad

Hands on: 25 minutes

Total time: 25 minutes

Serves: 6

This salad is best served while still warm or at least at room temperature. To make it ahead, finish the potatoes through adding the dressing. Cool, cover and refrigerate. When ready to serve, bring potatoes to room temperature and stir in the remaining ingredients.

2 pounds small red potatoes (about 2-inch diameter), unpeeled, scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices

2 tablespoons salt

1 medium clove garlic, peeled and threaded on skewer

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 cup capers, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup cornichons, thinly sliced

2 radishes, thinly sliced (about 1/3 cup)

2 tablespoons minced red onion

In a large saucepan, cover potatoes with cold water and add salt. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium. Lower skewered garlic into simmering water and partially blanch, about 45 seconds. Immediately run garlic under cold tap water to stop cooking; remove garlic from skewer and set aside. Continue to simmer potatoes, uncovered, until tender but still firm, about 5 minutes. Drain potatoes, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water. Arrange hot potatoes close together in single layer on rimmed baking sheet.

Press garlic through garlic press or mince by hand. In a small bowl, whisk garlic, reserved potato cooking water, oil, vinegar, mustard and pepper in small bowl until combined. Drizzle dressing evenly over warm potatoes; let stand 10 minutes.

Transfer potatoes to large serving bowl; add capers, cornichons, radishes and onion, mix gently. Serve immediately.

Adapted from a recipe in Cook’s Illustrated, July 1, 2002.

Per serving: 222 calories (percent of calories from fat, 37), 3 grams protein, 32 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 9 grams fat (1 gram saturated), no cholesterol, 1,426 milligrams sodium.

Grilled Eggplant and Red Pepper Salad

Hands on: 15 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

The key to this recipe is cooking the vegetables low and slow on the grill. You want them to be lightly charred on the outside and tender on the inside. The lively flavors in the dressing complement these particular vegetables perfectly.

1 medium eggplant (about 1 pound), ends trimmed, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds

2 red bell peppers, cored, seeded, cut into 2-inch strips

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, divided

Kosher salt and ground black pepper

2 tablespoons plain yogurt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves

1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1/2 teaspoon)

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Preheat grill to medium hot.