At FEED, we believe that everyday choices like what we cook, eat, and share can be powerful acts of care and connection. That’s why we’re thrilled to welcome a true icon of food culture and advocacy, Mark Bittman, to our blog.

For over four decades, Mark has been changing the way we think about food with bestselling cookbooks like How to Cook Everything, thought-provoking work like Animal, Vegetable, Junk, and his latest initiatives with The Bittman Project and Community Kitchen. I had the privilege of meeting Mark last year when he was just starting to socialize his concept for the Community Kitchen, a healthy, innovative approach to addressing food insecurity. The FEED Foundation has been a proud supporter of this initiative and we can't wait to see it come to life soon in NYC. 

School is out for the summer, so I asked Mark if he could share recipes for a fun and easy meal that kids can help make. It’s light, summery, and perfect for little hands to get involved. Whether your child is a future chef or just happy to sprinkle a little salt, this one’s for them.  xx Lauren

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Leafy Salad

Makes: 1 serving

Time: 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how much stuff you add

Is this even a recipe? The size of the salad, what you put in it, and how you dress it are totally up to you. There’s also a lot of info here to help you choose and prepare lettuce, spinach, arugula, and other greens. So yeah, let’s call it a recipe. A recipe for Ranch for Real follows, or you can simply dress with a little olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Ingredients

Several large leaves or a handful of torn leaves (enough to fill the bowl you want to use)

Additions from the list that follows

Ranch for Real (recipe follows)

Steps

1. Fill a big bowl with cold tap water and get a colander ready in the sink. (Or fill a salad spinner with water.) If you’re using a head of lettuce (where the leaves are attached to a hard “core”), pull off and get rid of any brown or wilted outside leaves until you get to fresh inside leaves. If you’re using loose unattached leaves, sort through them and throw away any that are brown, wilted, or slimy.

2. With a knife and cutting board or your fingers, trim away any tough edges or stems and cut or tear the leaves into a size that looks best to you. As you work, put them in the bowl of water (or the salad spinner). Swirl to rinse the leaves and lift them into the colander (or lift the spinner basket and pour out the water). If the water looks muddy or sandy, repeat this step.

3. Shake the colander to get most of the water off the leaves and roll them loosely in a clean towel. (Or spin the spinner and pour off the water left in the bowl.)

4. To dress the salad, you have two choices: Put the leaves in the bowl you’re going to eat from along with anything you’re adding from the list below. Spoon or pour on a little dressing wherever you want it. Or for tossed salad, rinse and dry the bowl you used to rinse the leaves (or the spinner bowl), put your salad in the bowl with a little bit of dressing, and use your hands or a big fork and spoon to toss the leaves until they’re lightly coated. Either way, it’s better to start with too little dressing than too much. You can add more, but you can’t take it away! Eat while the leaves are still crisp.

17 Things to Add to Any Salad

Pick as many or as few of the things on this list as you like. You can use a little bit of everything or a lot of just one or two. Then chop everything into bite- sized bits. You can even skip the lettuce!

1. Tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes, whole or cut in half)

2. Celery

3. Carrots

4. Cucumber

5. Radishes

6. Scallions

7. Fresh herb leaves (like basil, mint, or parsley)

8. Any cold cooked vegetables (like broccoli, cauliflower, or green beans)

9. Fruit (like apples, pears, or grapes)

10. Nuts (like peanuts, cashews, or almonds)

11. Cheese (like cheddar, Jack, feta, or grated Parmesan)

12. Cooked chicken

13. Ham, salami, or crumbled cooked bacon

14. Cooked shrimp, crab, or fish

15. Canned tuna or salmon

16. Tofu cubes

17. Croutons

Leaves from Mild to Bold

For those of you new to salads, try starting with the mildest at the top of this list and work your way along the path toward those with the boldest flavor. If you already love salads, you’ll probably find some new lettuces here to try.

• Iceberg

• Butter

• Romaine

• Spinach

• Red or green leaf

• Napa cabbage

• Green cabbage

• Red cabbage

• Endive

• Arugula

• Mesclun (which means “mix” in French)

• Frisée

• Radicchio

Did You Know

You can have salad always ready to make in the fridge. Just fill a salad spinner with torn or baby leaves, rinse them well in cold water, and spin. Dump the water out of the bowl and shake the basket a couple times to fluff the leaves. They’ll keep for several days.

Ranch for Real

Makes: about 1 cup

Time: 15 minutes

You probably didn’t think ranch dressing could get any better than what you’ve eaten in restaurants or out of the bottle. Trust me: It can. You’ll need a secret ingredient, though. Fortunately, it’s available in the baking section of a regular supermarket.

Ingredients

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons buttermilk powder

Salt

Pepper (if you like)

1 teaspoon dried dill (if you like)

Steps

1. Put the mayonnaise, buttermilk, and buttermilk powder in a medium bowl. Sprinkle with a little salt, and then a lot of pepper and the dill if you like them.

2. Whisk until the dressing is smooth. Taste and add more salt or pepper if it needs some. Transfer to a small airtight container, refrigerate, and eat within 1 week.

Variation

Pink and Sweet Ranch. In Step 1, add 2 tablespoons ketchup before whisking. You can skip the salt, pepper, and dill.

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Photography by Ghazalle Badiozamani

Illustrations by April Kim Tonin

The following excerpts are from How to Cook Everything Kids by Mark Bittman