Your three or four best salads, please

[Abeona]

I've been tasked with taking at least four salads to an evening event in mid-June where there will be a raclette grill for everyone to make their own combo of sliced steak/cheese/potato/ham/gherkin/onion and whatever. Around 20 people expected, including Dutch, Belgian and Germans who may have their own ideas about salad...

I'm thinking a good green salad (lettuce, watercress, spinach, perhaps some avocado) with a classic vinaigrette is a must-have.

Wondered about a nice tangy beetroot-based salad to cut through the cheese.

Pasta salad to offer some carbs, perhaps? What's your best one?

Carrot salad: John Torode does a nice one with mint, ginger and coriander.

Lentil salad: lots of lentils with loads of veg and herbs chopped fine and a dressing.

Potato salad? There will be potatoes offered with the raclette but when I think Dutch, German and Belgian I think potato salad...

At the risk of sounding stingy, I need to keep costs fairly low. I've been told to spend no more than £30 on salads, and while I can provide lettuce and spinach and chives and possibly spring onions from my own garden, things like tomato salad are just going to be too expensive to provide for 20 people. Even buying beetroot will be pushing it...

I've done it both ways and I do prefer with the bacon but its OK with the onion instead. Also if people are going to eat it alongside melted cheese with bacon then you don't need to double the pig content. (It's also very good with(lots of) smoked salmon instead of bacon as a light lunch in its own right.....)

www.ambitiouskitchen.com/chickpea-apple-broccoli-salad-with-honey-dijon-dressing/

This one, I like it with crumbled feta but as as side it's lovely as it is. You can use raisins instead of dried cherries, any kind of nuts, just use whatever you have/is cheapest.

OP, I think you’re overestimating the role these salads are going to play at a raclette evening. I would stop thinking in terms of making 4x salads to feed 20 people, and instead thinking of 4x salads to add interest and freshness to an already filling meal.

So dial back the carbs, and the volume, and focus on cheap fresh veggies that stand up well at a buffet.

Something like this with 4x cucumbers, a 500g bag of edamame beans and some spring onion should do for one of the salads, and come in under budget.

Ottolenghi - best salad recipes

Lentils are a great choice
vinegar based slaw
potato salad
chickenless caeser

You definitely won’t need 20 portions of each salad! People will probably only have a taste and not of them all. Some none at all.

Look, I'll be frank — I'm not going to add chicken thighs to a salad. Protein is available from the raclette and the steak and there are several vegetarians among those attending, so adding meat to one of the salads would rule that out for them.

Why would I spend £2-3 on walnuts when I can get them for £1.60 from Aldi?

I don't think a mushroom salad is what's needed for this occasion. You may like a salad of raw mushrooms (and so do I, as long as the mushrooms are really fresh and tasty) but I'm not sure they'd appeal to an awful lot of people. In my experience there are quite a few people who don't touch mushrooms at all, raw or cooked. But perhaps that's just the people I know.

It's really difficult to gauge how much people will eat. I've been to too many events like this where you think no one will go for the salad, or only a couple of people will go for the vegetarian option, and then watch as people eat everything in sight. I once helped cater for a friend's wedding where we did two separate buffets — a vegan one for the vegans and vegetarians and a meaty/ fishy one for the carnivores. We laid it all out, the guests walked in and the meat-eaters had almost cleared the vegan table as well as their own before the vegans arrived. There was almost a vegan riot.

Do you realise how rude and superior you've come across to several posters throughout this thread?

I was giving examples of what you could achieve with your budget. I wasn't suggesting you go with my options. And, to be frank, I wish I hadn't bothered.

You're massively overestimating and overthinking the importance of salads at a raclette evening.

I'm working on the basis of people taking a heaped tablespoonful of each with the raclette. I'm trying to imagine it on a plate: the contents of your raclette pan, a couple of steak strips, a tablespoonful of potato salad, a tablespoonful of beetroot salad (say) and pasta salad and greens. It's not what some people would consider a substantial meal. There will be more hungry men under 40 than people with bird-like appetites.

If you’re struggling to budget for even cucumbers and tomatoes then maybe consider doing two large salads instead of 4 different ones.

I've added it to my meal plan.

Looks lovely. Nice crunchy texture. Just googled the price of dried cherries, but I guess they aren't essential.

Even if these don't end up at the event, they'll make my summer menu a lot more interesting.

I'd definitely do a french style carrot salad - grated carrot, plenty of fresh parsley and a Dijon mustard dressing. It works work with raclette, and adds a nice colour contrast to the table. (Plus it's cheap and easy to make!)

Fab suggestions here and nothing really to add- except may I come?

Sounds delicious.

At the risk of sounding stingy, I need to keep costs fairly low

You don't sound stingy at all @Abeona. You are working to an understandable budget and you sound very thoughtful.

I like that little pot of couscous and feta salad that Sainsburies do, it has a kick. You could recreate that, you really don't need alot of feta, just finely crumb it throughout and you'll get that nice salty kick

I have Raclette a lot and it’s rich.

Yes, which is why I think people might end up eating a fair bit of salad. As a kind of palate cleanser: something fresh after the cheese and potato. It's why something like the carrot salad seemed a good accompaniment.

How about a celeriac rémoulade ( coleslaw effectively) - not sure if still in season in June though

Is there anything in particular you'd recommend. Ideally with fewer than a dozen ingredients! I used to love him, then grew weary of the never-ending search for obscure ingredients.

Sorry you're correct there address too many ingredients

I have a Sainsbury's within reach. I'll check this out. Cheers.

https://www.recipetineats.com/shredded-red-cabbage-carrot-mint-salad/

This salad is excellent and cheap as chips.

I would make a potato salad and also a broccoli salad and call it a day. I’ve made this broccoli salad a lot, and scaled it up many times for a big crowd. You can sub raisins/sultanas for the cranberries and use any nuts you like. It won’t change the taste.

https://www.recipetineats.com/broccoli-salad/

If I could only eat two salads for the rest of my life it would be the carrot one mentioned below, and celeriac remoulade.

All hail the French supermarché deli.

The more I think of this the more I see your conundrum.

Salads for this need to be generally light and refreshing as raclette is (deliciously) rich and as you say will have pots etc with it. So nothing too bulky.

I like the carrot /parsley idea.
Green salad ? Cucumbers will be cheaper in June but it's worth peeling them - changes and mellows the taste.Some sort of knock out dressing ? ( ideas for op please)
I suppose watercress would knock the budget out of the park? Just thinking the pepperiness might work well with everything else. I do a blue cheese dressing with that but might be too much, as I love strong flavours
Tempted to say avocado but even with lemon it can go brown and is often on the ´things some people avoid' list.
Do you have any allotments near you? Might be worth a try

It sounds like you will (hurrah!) be catering for hearty eaters but in my experience things people (not me) avoid include

Beetroot
Mushrooms
Beans ( but these are great of course for the veggies)

Good luck :)

Lovely. That's the kind of thing I do fairly regularly in the winter — except for the mint. My partner has a thing about mint. Hates it in anything and so I only use mint when I'm on my own. But maybe on this occasion...