Bring salad in from the sides and make it star of the show

I was recently invited to a barbecue event down the country. A midlands location set on a lake, surrounded by forestry. The evening was perfect; still and calm with balmy temperatures, clinking glassware and the hum of upbeat chatter. The smell of charcoal wafted through the air as steak sizzled, salt crackled and flames fizzed upwards from the embers as juices cascaded down. We even had a sunset to cap the evening off. The selection of meat was beautiful. There were dry-aged striploins, whole monkfish tails on the bone, brined and rolled chicken thighs and some beautiful charred flatbreads made with yoghurt. This was simple food using brilliant produce, cooked over fire in an amazing setting, for a group of people who love food, conversation and craic.

But something else stole the show, something often treated as an afterthought. Yes, the meat was amazing, but the salads blew us away. Powerful, colourful, bursting with seasoning, texture and zip. Each a dish in their own right, both considered and thought through. There was a Vietnamese slaw, full of ginger, chilli and lime leaf. A classic Caesar salad, the dressing packed with anchovy purée and Parmesan. Beautiful new potatoes, with a thick home-made mayonnaise and plenty of chopped herbs and lemon zest. Tzatziki, chimichurri, baba ganoush. Each spoonful more flavoursome than the last. I’d love to do up the recipes for all of the above, but I’ll have to keep some for later in the year. This week, I’ve focused in on two simple salads using handy ingredients. These can be prepped in advance for large numbers and work with any grilled or barbecued meats.

The first is a potato salad using new season potatoes, jersey royals or queens work really well here. Focus on seasoning the water you cook them in and on cooking them until just softened so they hold some texture. Home-made mayonnaise is a great recipe to have in your repertoire but you can of course use ready-made. I always add a good chunk of Dijon mustard to add some punch. Smoked mackerel and anchovies are beautiful preserved foods whose role in this line-up is to add seasoning, not turn it into a fish dish.

Classic Waldorf salad. Photograph: Harry Weir

The second salad is inspired by the lakeside sunset a few weeks back. Tinned chickpeas are a great cupboard filler, especially for adding bulk to stews or curries midweek. They also work really nicely as a salad filler, just rinse them off once you open the tin. I’ve made a simple dressing using some leftover fajita spice blend mix that contains the likes of coriander, cumin and chilli which works really well with orange. Some fresh thyme leaves and crumbled feta bring it all together. Not something you may have seen before, but very much worth a try.