Liz Earle on sensational salads and skin friendly dressings

The perfect choice for Bank Holiday picnics

Heading out for a family picnic? Look no further for some healthy pack-and-go recipes from Liz Earle, creator of the award-winning Liz Earle Beauty Co., mother of five and organic farmer. When time is tight but you still want something tasty everyone will enjoy, try these simple summer salad suggestions packed with skin-saving goodness to help nourish sun-kissed skins.

SENSTAIONAL SALADS

Chopped salads are a simple way of combining local, fresh and seasonal skin-friendly foods in one healthy picnic dish. Each of the recipes here is designed to be prepared in advance and put into plastic boxes, perfect to keep fresh when travelling. They make great office lunch-boxes too. Here are Liz’s personal favourites:

Sunshine Salad
Serves 6
For the dressing:

150ml (1/2 pint) cold pressed olive oil or rape seed oil
25ml (1fl oz) fresh lime juice
2tsps French mustard
freshly ground black pepper

For the salad:

4 large carrots, scrubbed and grated
225g (8oz) mixed salad leaves, such as spinach, radicchio, frisḗe, oakleaf and Batavia leaves, endive and lamb’s lettuce
50g (2oz) sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
50g (2oz) hazelnuts, almonds or pecans, finely chopped

Combine the salad ingredients together in a large bowl and mix thoroughly before transferring to a picnic box. Next, mix together the dressing ingredients and store in an airtight container or jam jar, ready to shake and drizzle over the salad just before eating. Sun-dried tomatoes keep well for picnics but you can also replace with twice the amount of cherry tomatoes, which also travel well. Both kinds of tomatoes are a rich source of lycopene, an important antioxidant that may help prevent sunburn, reddening of the skin in the sun and even some kinds of skin cancers.

Herb Salad
This tasty all-leaf salad makes a great accompaniment to a cold pasta or rice salad. Don’t be tempted to make a more complicated dressing – let the herb flavours speak for themselves.

Serves 4

300g (11oz) mixed salad leaves such as; spinach, radicchio, frisee, chicory, rocket (argula)
50g (2oz) mixed fresh herbs such as; chevrl, basil, parsley, coriander
2tbsps (30ml) olive oil, rape seed or walnut oil
1tsp (5ml) lemon juice

Mix the salad leaves and place into a picnic container, or put into a bag ready to tip into a salad serving bowl. Mix the remainder of the ingredients in a travel container or jam jar. Shake well to mix before drizzling over the salad before serving. Green leafy salads, such as baby spinach, rocket and lambs lettuce, are an especially useful source of skin-friendly beta-carotene, an important antioxidant that helps prevent the free-radical cell damage that leads to premature skin ageing. Each of the plant oils suggested here is a good source of the skin-plumping essentially fatty acids that help keep skin soft and smooth.

DELICIOUS DRESSINGS

Dressings are the fastest way to liven up raw vegetables and salad combinations, making summer salads tastier whilst adding more skin-saving nutrients. The thicker dressings are based on yoghurt and can also be used as dips for raw veggie crudités. For the thickest dips, use a Greek-style yoghurt. Quick and easy to prepare in advance, simply store in a plastic sealable pot or jam jar to pack with your summer picnic.

Fine French Dressing
If stored tightly sealed in the fridge, this dressing will also keep for up to a week.
Makes 300ml (1/2 pint)

175ml (6fl oz) unrefined sunflower or safflower oil
120ml (4fl oz) freshly squeezed lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper
1/2tsp mustard, Dijon or whole grain can be used
1/2tsp freshly grated root ginger
1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

Put all the ingredients in a screw-top jar, replace the lid and shake vigorously to mix well. This twist on the traditional classic has added fresh ginger for a unique zingy freshness. Works especially well when combined with skin-cleansing salads based on cucumber, chicory and fennel.

Cucumber Dressing
A delicious, refreshing dressing that also works well on sliced avocados, one of the richest sources of the skin-saving antioxidant vitamin E.
Serves 2-4

150g (5oz) cucumber
150g (5oz) natural low-fat, plain live (bio) yoghurt
1tsbp cider vinegar
1 sprig of dill
½ tsp dried sill seeds

Blend all the ingredients together in a food processor (or hand-held whisk) until the dressing is smooth and creamy. The bio yoghurt is packed with healthy acidophilus, the beneficial intestinal bacteria that can also help to keep skin clear.

Yoghurt and Chive Dressing
Serves 2-4

150ml (1/2 pint) natural low-fat, plain live (bio) yoghurt
1tbsp lemon juice
1tbsp Dijon mustard
2tbsp chopped chives
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together, adding black pepper to season, and stir vigorously. Alternatively, place ingredients in a large, screw-top jar, replace the lid and shake well. Yoghurt and chives are a tasty, skin-friendly combo containing calcium and vitamin C.

Orange and Tamari Dressing
Tamari sauce is made from soya beans and is similar to soy sauce. This tangy recipe works very well with raw baby spinach or dark green salad leaves. It is also a useful dressing for those who dislike vinegar.
Serves 2-4

150ml (1/2 pint) freshly squeezed orange juice
1tsp grated orange peel
2tbsps tamari sauce
1tsp finely chopped fresh root ginger
3tsbsps cold-pressed olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together and stir well before using. Alternatively, put the ingredients into a large, screw-top jar, replace the lid and shake well. Use organically grown oranges where possible, alternatively, scrub the skins in mildly water to remove fungicide residues and rinsing well before grating. A cleansing and refreshing dressing, rich in the skin-saving antioxidant vitamins A (in the form of beta-carotene from the oranges), vitamin C (also from the orange juice) and Vitamin E (from the olive oil). Orange peel also contains skin-friendly bioflavonoid nutrients and fresh ginger is a traditional intestinal cleanser.

Follow @LizEarleMe on Twitter for more tips on wellbeing.

Liz Earle is backing this year’s Sunlight Campaign run by the National Osteoporosis Society to show people how to safely embrace the sun to protect their health. For more information head to: http://www.nos.org.uk/page.aspx?pid=535