I think where most salads are lacking is in the dressing- you simply
cannot buy as good a dressing as you can make in a minute. Even the
much-touted Paul Newman's strikes me as flavorless.

Most of my salads are treated to a simple vinaigrette, with the
following:

Olive oil
A minced shallot
dash of wine vineagar and/or lemon juice
bit of crushed garlic (out of a jar is fine)
small squirt of dijon mustard (optionally)
Salt and fresh ground pepper.

And just about every salad also includes some capers, and lots of
finely chopped fresh parsely. If there's a tomato involved, I almost
always add some mint, too.

If you're looking for a creamy dressing, this one is super simple:

Half mayonnaise
Half yogurt
Some crushed garlic to taste
Some finely chopped chives

Use sparingly. It's great with cubed chicken or turkey and some sliced
grapes and walnuts.

My other salad hangup is iceberg lettuce- tasteless stuff, especially
in a day when you can buy assorted, cleaned leaf lettuce at any grocery
store.

mike

http://smsfr.blogspot.com

"What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes,
he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow."
~ A. A. Milne