It’s summer and that means salad days. Salads are the perfect accompaniment to barbecues and, hopefully, that means the usual cook gets a break while the men produce delicious meats and fish on the grill. It’s particularly delicious if somebody has been out fishing during the day and the resulting catch is dinner.

In fact, salads are an all-year-round affair, and their flavour and appearance is limited only by your imagination and taste preferences. They can be the perfect summer lunch, too, with a nice crisp white wine or one of the increasing range of refreshing rosé wines available.

Once, salad was defined by a combination based on lettuce, tomato, egg and spring onion, but nowadays there are amazing salad combinations of fruits and vegetables that may not include any of those “traditional” ingredients.

An example of how salad recipes evolve is the famous “Waldorf Salad”…the original was created at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in the 1890’s by the maître d’hôtel, Oscar Tschirky. His recipe included only apples, celery and mayonnaise, but chopped walnuts were added later and became an accepted essential ingredient and now you’ll find all manner of “add-ons” in a Waldorf Salad, which is usually served on lettuce.

There are lots of salad recipes on the website, so just enter “Salad” in the search bar and go for your life with a load of great ideas to lift your January fare out of the ordinary.