I’m not sure how it happened, but apparently I have a specialty. It’s not those colorful macarons, it’s not those elaborate fondant cakes, it’s not even pastry at all — I’m a salad specialist.

I’m not sure when it happened, but I’m pretty sure it started off innocently. I joined a CSA, bought local, ate seasonal. Somehow during all of this fresh and local I transformed my pastry chef teachings into garde manger magic.

Like many chef-type people, I’m hypercritical of my cooking, my ingredients, and my presentations. I guess that’s why the eater always claims that, “this is the bet * ever” or, “you make the best *!” I tend not to skimp on extras when I put a salad together. A salad, in my opinion, is far more than lettuce, a few tomatoes, and dressing out of a bottle. My salads burst with color and flavors – No ingredients are off limits: pasta, potatoes, eggs, meat, fish — anything fresh, grilled, fried, boiled or raw is fair game.

Curious how it’s done? Here’s my method for putting together a good salad.

Lettuce is important. Try to get the notion out of your head that lettuce comes in a bag and is pre-washed. If you’re buying lettuce in a bag, you’re already doing it wrong. Real lettuce comes in a head with dirt still on it. Care should be taken when washing and tearing the lettuce; properly cleaned, spun, and dried lettuce is the base of your salad. This step sounds unimportant but I believe it’s the most unappreciated step of them all. Wet leaves will not hold dressing and will just taste wet.

Speaking of dressings. Is it really too much work to make your own dressing these days? Dressing is, at it’s most basic, TWO ingredients plus seasonings – oil + vinegar + salt + pepper. You can whisk it in a bowl, put it in tupperware and shake it, or buy one of those fancy dressing bottles and shake it up in that! Dressing can be enhanced with mustards, honeys, mayonaises, and pretty much whatever else you can think of putting in it. Want an Asian-style dressing? Add some shoyu and miso paste.

When garnishing a salad, spend the time to make it look nice. I know it’s cliche, but we really do eat with our eyes first. A jumbled plate of leaves with a few hacked up vegetables mixed in is technically a salad just like dressing out of a bottle is technically salad dressing. (seriously have you read the labels of pre-made dressings?)

Salads should get all the glamor of a main entree. Use the freshest ingredients you can find, lightly dress it, and don’t forget the seasoning.That’s pretty much all there is to it.

This month the Daring Bakers chose a recipe by Boston’s own Julia Child: Baguettes. This recipe was probably 3 pages long and very detailed. I’m not listing it here, but I’m sure you can find it on another Daring Baker’s site.

While mine did not come out as perfect as I wanted, the taste and texture were pretty good for skipping a two steps in the recipe.

The first step I omitted with proofing the bread on a cloth. I searched high and low but could not find anything appropriate in my house to this sort of application. I ended up proofing them on a silpat, on the counter, with a small tea towel draped over them.

The second step omitted, which is pretty important, was I didn’t cook with steam. I tried spritzing the loaves with a sprayer but omitted any of the other (very important) steps the recipe suggested for producing steam in a home oven.

The results were decently shaped baguettes with a crust that wasn’t as crunchy as I hoped. This didn’t stop me from eating an entire baguette with jam though, they were more than tasty. Would I try this recipe again? Maybe. If I use the recipe again, there are a few things I would change:

• I’d skip the whole cloth proofing and just use a sheet pan with a towel over the top
• I wouldn’t try to flip the proofed loaves over and THEN cook them, too much risk
• Create steam in the oven, it is important for the crust formation
• Less flour, more water. I even thought the recipe had a high hydration factor, but I was wrong.
• Take more pictures and show them off!

These baguettes featured in a salad I made later in the week, as well. They were thinly sliced and toasted and served with a grilled goat cheese; I then paired that with a golden beet salad. I jokingly called it, “The Yellow Beet Road.”

While I really love these French-style baguettes, I’ve started to acquire a taste for the Vietnamese-style baguettes. The Asian-inspired breads had a bit lighter texture and had a better crust formation even without steam. The recipe was a little bit less involved, too!