It’s salad season, and for many office workers that tends to mean lunch boxes of miserable leaves wilting under sad vinaigrettes. Vegans are far better at making salads (for us, they’re a main course rather than a side dish), as are other countries. Head to Italy and you’ll find blood-red orbs of tomato heaving under slabs of mozzarella, drenched in lashings of bright green olive oil. Go east and warm sticky noodles lie on beds of well-seasoned peppers and bean sprouts. 

Back in old Blighty, you might not want to spend ages making a quick cold lunch or have access to really flavoursome, fresh veg, but you can still elevate your salad game with a delicious dressing. Clementine Haxby is the culinary director of The Salad Project, a five-store chain dedicated to bringing salad to life (and which has recently teamed with Deliciously Ella). She believes a simple, tasty sauce is all you need to turn a dull dish into a bowl of happiness. Below are her three go-to dressings.

Ingredients

200ml coconut milk

1 tsp ground turmeric

Large pinch sea salt

10g fresh ginger, peeled

1 tbsp curry powder

2 tbsp lime juice

1 garlic clove, peeled

50ml light olive oil

100g mango chutney

Handful fresh coriander

Method

1. For a silky and sunny salad dressing, whack all of your ingredients into a blender and blitz until smooth.
2. This dressing is perfect for brightening up any less-than-sunny summer afternoons. 

“Use it to dress roasted cauliflower and add a pop of zing with some quick-pickled onions, or bring some sunshine to your upcoming barbecues by drizzling over some chicken thighs as they come off the grill,” says Haxby.

Ingredients

120g cashew nuts

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 inch ginger, peeled

100ml sesame oil

1½ tbsp maple syrup

20ml lime juice

Large pinch sea salt

Handful fresh coriander

Pinch of chilli flakes

200ml water cold – added as needed

Method

1. Place your cashew nuts into a dry pan on a medium heat. Keep moving them around the pan until they are golden and toasted. This should take about 5 -8 minutes, depending on the heat, but keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.
2. Place your nuts and all remaining ingredients, excluding the chilli flakes and water, into a blender and blitz until smooth. Add your water bit by bit and stir until you reach a nice pouring consistency. 
3. Next, add chilli flakes until you’re happy with the spice level, stirring them in to add some texture and colour to your dressing.

“Shake this up with heaps of fresh, shredded vegetables, fresh coriander and some extra toasted nuts then leave to chill in the fridge for a few minutes – that’s a delicious, crunchy salad to keep you cool on a hot day,” says Haxby. “Or drizzle it over some kale massaged with sesame oil and some grilled chicken or salmon. Finish with an extra squeeze of lime and some crispy chilli oil.”

Ingredients

25g basil

25g mint leaves, without stems

25g spinach

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Juice 1 lemon

1-2 pinches sea salt

1 tsp sugar

300ml extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Remove the mint leaves from the stems, place all of your basil, mint and spinach into a blender (keep the stems of the basil, they hold lots of flavour), then add your mustard, lemon, sea salt and sugar. 
2. Blitz to a paste, then add your olive oil and either blitz until smooth or pulse to keep it a little more textured.
3. Chill, then use to dress fresh tomatoes and mozzarella with a final pinch of salt and whole basil leaves or drizzle over fridge-fresh melon and Parma ham. 

Haxby suggests: “This dressing also works wonders with goat’s cheese, toasted maple walnuts and rocket if you’re looking for something salty and sweet, but still green enough to constitute a salad.”

Recipes by The Salad Project’s culinary director, Clementine Haxby