Food

Jess Damuck Thinks Just About Anything Can Count As A Salad

Pro tip: homemade dressing reigns supreme.

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Jess Damuck makes a strawberry rhubarb salad for Bustle Book Club.
Bustle

It’s always easy to grab prepackaged snack or some leftovers from the fridge than to make something from scratch. Sometimes, ease is key when you’re on a time crunch or simply can’t be bothered to source ingredients you may need for a new dish but Salad Freak by Jess Damuck aims to test those assumptions. In this episode of Bustle Cook Club, the cookbook author shares one of her many quick salads that use only a handful of ingredients, making it an impressive meal you can recreate at home.

Damuck’s rhubarb and strawberry salad is the star of the show this time around, and is sweet enough to be enjoyed as breakfast or dessert. You read that right: salad for dessert. Don’t let the word “salad” fool you, because the ingredients all come together to make a sweet, creamy, and somewhat crunchy bite. According to Damuck, “Anything can be a salad” and her main criteria for that label includes fresh or prepared vegetables and some sort of protein, although the options are pretty endless.

This rhubarb and strawberry salad uses the two titular ingredients, both of which are in season during the summer months, ricotta cheese, honeycomb, toasted buckwheat, and a touch of flaky salt to bring it all together. Although there aren’t many ways you can mess up a recipe so simple, Damuck has a couple of tips for making this salad picture perfect.

For one, use a peeler on your rhubarb rather than a pairing knife to avoid any kitchen mishaps. The resulting ribbons of rhubarb will be easier to marinate in a bowl with some lemon — which you can put in the fridge if you are preparing ingredients to serve later. Secondly, every salad can be taken up a notch by using homemade dressing, which is not as intimidating a feat as you might think. The base for nearly any homemade dressing is simply olive oil and lemon juice — if you have those two ingredients, you can whip something up easily that will taste way better than any bottled product. This recipe uses a mix of lemon, honey, and ginger to tie together the dressing.

Check out Damuck’s salad recipe, and all the recipes that will be shared via Bustle Cook Club on the Bustle YouTube channel. If you’re always looking for new ways to liven up your time creating in the kitchen, you’ll want to tune in.

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