The Prudent Pantry: Easy Side Salad Recipes

As a vegetarian, I have a deep appreciation for side dishes. I can't count the number of occasions that I've eaten meals made up entirely of side dishes. Holidays, meals out—once I even survived a birthday dinner (not mine) at a steak house.

The easiest sides when cooking at home are, I've found, salads. The following are a few of my favorites.

From Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook:

Bean Salads

"Flavorful and nutritious bean salads hold a prominent place in the healthful cuisines of the Caucasus. Follow suit by combining white or red beans, chick-peas or lentils with chopped fresh plum tomatoes and red onions, a sprinkling of minced garlic and green chile pepper, and lots of fresh herbs. Toss with some lemon juice and good olive oil and delight in a healthy lunch."

From Papa Andrea's Sicilian Table:

Insalata Mista

"As Papa Andrea taught me, making a good salad is more art than science. It is not, however, a difficult art to master.

Essential are a mix or sweet and bitter ingredients, such as butter lettuce, radicchio, watercress, fennel, endive, and red onion. Be sure the lettuce is washed and well dried. Tear it into pieces; never cut it. Place the ingredients in a salad bowl, the bigger, the better. Add plenty of sea salt and toss the mixture. The salt will open the lettuce to receive the vinegar, which is added next. Sprinkle enough good wine vinegar to have its aroma rise from the bowl, but not be overpowering. Toss the salad for a second time. Now add the best quality extra virgin olive oil available. The rule of thumb is three times as much oil as vinegar. Toss the salad again. Add coarse ground black pepper and serve.

The result should be neither vinegary nor oily, and the taste of the ingredients should be enhanced by the dressing, not overpowered by it.

A mixed green salad is a great accompaniment to fried foods or as its own course served after the second."

And my own favorite pasta salad, invented--as most good dishes are--by necessity (I was hungry and used whatever I found in the pantry and fridge).

Cook about half a pound of fusilli or your favorite pasta. Toss it with a small amount of olive oil to keep it from sticking together, then add a two-inch section of chevre or other soft cheese, crumbling it. Chop one roasted red pepper (jarred is fine), a handful of kalamata olives, one or two scallions, and a handful of cilantro. Add coarse sea salt, and cracked pepper if you like. Eat warm or at room temperature.

Next week, if I can find the slip of paper it's jotted down on, I will copy my favorite vegetable salad to post for you. In the meantime, what's your favorite salad? Share the recipe if you can! And if you have a good potato salad, I need it!

Annika Barranti is a writer living in Los Angeles and blogging at Through the Looking Glass. She and her husband are raising two children and trying to eat well on a tiny budget.