The easiest way to give your meal a nutritional boost

A pile of greens provides a nutritional boost and rounds out a heavy meal the way a side salad would. Photo / The Washington Post
Give your hot plate of food a nutritional boost by balancing it with fresh greens.
In the spirit of “put an egg on it”, the here-to-stay trend that turns, say, a plate of vegetables or toast into a more balanced meal, I’d like to propose “put a salad on it”. A pile of greens on top of hot food not only adds colourful freshness to the plate, but it also rounds out the meal the way a side salad would, but with minimal effort and no extra dishes.
I discovered this at home one busy weeknight when I was serving a batch of spaghetti and meatballs to my husband and daughter. I had some rocket leaves on hand that I had intended to put into the sauce on the stove to wilt, but at the last minute, I switched gears and mounded the fresh greens on top of each plate of pasta, drizzled each with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. We all enjoyed what we called the “salad pasta” so much, it became a regular thing. I started piling various salad greens onto other dishes, such as pizzas and bowls of stew.
This dish applies “put a salad on it” to one of my go-to rush-hour meals: pasta with shrimp and toasted garlic. The driving flavour of the dish is thinly sliced garlic, which is cooked in olive oil over low heat until it turns golden and develops a deep, toasty flavour.
Then, fresh tomatoes are added to soften and release their juices, followed by shrimp, lemon zest and some red pepper flakes. Everything cooks together until the shrimp is pink and succulent, the tomatoes collapse, and the mixture is nice and saucy. The cooked pasta gets tossed in until it’s coated with that lovely sauce. (I went with penne for this recipe, but you could use any shape you like, and whatever type of pasta you prefer, such as regular, whole-wheat or bean-based.)
Once the pasta is plated, each portion is crowned with a handful of fresh arugula, a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of flaky salt. The tower of greens not only balances the meal nutritionally, but it also adds contrasting freshness to the hot pasta, and makes an attractive and unexpected garnish. Once you try it, I bet you’ll start thinking of more dishes calling out to you to “put a salad on it”.