How to make a Green Salad

There is no real recipe for making a good green salad, just a technique. You learn the technique by breaking down the components of the salad - the leaves, the "bits", the flowers and the dressing. A salad could be made from just one green leaf, or many. You can add vegetables and herbs to a greater or lesser extent. You can decorate it with flowers and there are a huge number of variations to the sauce.

Start with the leaves. Usually there should be a basic element of simple lettuce, though not necessarily, herb salads are always delicious. Then there are many different types of green leaf, each with its different flavour. Try to add a little bit of bitterness to the salad through leaves like rocket and nasturtium.

Nasturtium, parsley, chive, sorrel, wood sorrel, mustard, basil

Once you have decided on your green leaves, you can choose different way to embellish the salad. Always try to get a little alium flavour. Spring onion is good, and so are chives. You can also rub the bowl with garlic before making the dressing.

Add cucumber, tomato, beans, peas, fruit and always a little bit of onion

Flowers added to the salad at the last minute look great. Large flower heads, such as chives and calelendula should have the petals or individual flowers separated

Then finally the dressing. You need a little bit of acidity (lemon juice or vinegar), balanced by an oil. Take your salad bowl, and sprinkle in some salt and pepper. Add either 1 tablespoon lemon juice or 1 tablespoon vinegar, and stir to dissolve the salt. At this stage you can add a teaspoon of mustard as well. Then whisk in three tablespoons oil - this could be olive oil or rapeseed oil, or any of the milder flavoured oils, depending on your preference.

And now the Life Skill trick. Cross your salad spoons over the dressing. You can now pile on the ingredients, on top of the spoons. They will keep dry and free from the dressing, but the salad is ready to go, all the work is done. Just before serving, and only just before, toss the salad with the spoons.