Your sizzling summer salad template

Making a salad that appeals to your healthy appetite and still feels just a little bit wicked is both a science and an art. Sharing my secrets below...

My husband calls me the ‘Queen of Salads’ and I’m happy to accept the award. I love this time of year when supper becomes more about assembly than cooking and I will often make a one-dish all-in salad for supper. Usually it provides at least seven of our five a day, plus some good fats, first class protein and a bucket full of polyphenols. Often I will do a tiny little bit of cooking to include some ingredients that can’t be used raw. But ultimately it’s about balance. For me, a standout salad has to have at least four of the following things going on:

• heavy and light

• crunchy and yielding

• savoury and sweet

• juicy and dry

• spicy and cool

• hot and cold

If you follow my template in the post below, you’ll see what I mean.