PURSUE THE FOODY THINGS

Hello.

I like jars and I never throw them away...EVER. Jam jars, pasta sauce jars, peanut butter jars. Call me a hoarder if you will but jars in all their many shapes and sizes really do have a million uses. I use them when making marinades and dressings (chuck it all in, give it a shake and voila). I use them as make shift vases to hold Flowers. They serve as pretty good glasses when in need of a large beverage. I love the glow of a candle in a jar and don't even get me started on how fond I am of cupcakes in jars (mmmm cake).
But, no use is nearly as outstanding as the latest I have come across. Behold ...

THE SALAD IN A JAR! 

I first encountered the 'salad in a jar' concept on good ol' Pinterest and thought it was too good to be true. Had I finally discovered how to make salads up to 5 days in advance without the dressing making the lettuce horribly soggy? Could there really be a way to avoid the death of a ton of handbags at the hands of leaked salad juice due to rubbish Tupperware (yes, I am a 1940's housewife) and their flimsy lids? Was there now no need to lug around several pots and bottles, just for one lunch?
Yes sir!

Today, we had a picnic and my food of choice (you guessed it) was a salad in a jar. That's right, I embarked on an experiment that would either shatter my illusions or fullfill my widest dreams.

Here's what I did -

I cooked up some pasta and chicken. I chopped it up, along with a selection of veggies and then I layered it up in a jar. Simple.

The outcome - A tasty, crisp, not soggy salad that caused no casualties during transportation. I made it in plenty of time, put it in the fridge and then when ready to go, popped it in the picnic basket and off we went. Upon eating I just shook it up and tucked in. Good times.

As I said, it is pretty simple to create one of these bad boys and although I am not claiming to be a culinary genius, there is a technique to creating the perfect salad in a jar that delivers in both taste and crispness.

That technique lies in the ordering of the layers.

The first layer in the jar must must must be the wet layer. This could be made up of a dressing, coleslaw or a potato salad and needs to be as far away from the lettuce as possible.

The second layer is made up of your veggies. I started off with hardier vegetables such as cucumber and red onions as I didn't mind if these soaked up the dressing a bit. I then layered up tomatoes, sweetcorn and peppers, softer veggies that would possibly change in taste if they were 'touching' the dressing for too long.

Thirdly it's the pasta layer. This layer could also be made up of chickpeas, couscous (it really is the food so good they named it twice), Quinoa, rice or any pasta or pulse of your choice.

The fourth layer in this salad was made up of garlic and chilli marinated chicken. You could obviously use any meat or fish on this layer. If I was to use cheese I would also put it here.

Fifth is lots of lettuce. Romaine is usually my lettuce of choice but there as so many possibilities.

Last but not least, throw in any toppings of choice to add texture. This is the layer where you would put good for you things like nuts or seeds or not so good for you things like croutons or crispy bacon bits.

I made four salads in a jar this morning; one chilli and garlic chicken with whole wheat pasta and french dressing and three garlic chicken Caesar salads. Three of those were eaten today by me & two rather willing Guinea Pigs ... *cough cough* ... I mean friends, during our unfortunately wet and windy picnic, and one will be eaten for my lunch at work tomorrow. I'm not sure how it'll hold up after almost 36 hours in the fridge or during my journey to the office, but if my experience today is anything to go by, it will be crisp and yum. I'll be sure to let you know!

*UPDATE* The salad in a jar for work held up fine, tasty, crisp and now happily in my tum. The salad in a jar is definitely a way of life!

If you have a go at making yourself a salad in a jar feel free to let me know how you get on.

Jade x