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[1] Strips of pumpernickel toast surround a garden of crudites “planted” atop squash puree (photo © Il Ritorno | Miami).
[2] A closer look (photo © Dawn Stewart | Instagram).
[3] Black bean hummus. You can make it darker to resemble soil with the tips below (photo © Whole Foods Market).
[4] Easter egg radishes* substitute for spring flowers (photo © Jengod | Wikipedia).
[5] Or, use a slender radish like French breakfast radishes (photo © Amber Engle | Wesual | Unsplash).
[6] Rainbow baby carrots (photo © The Homegrown Collective).
[7] We added a layer of superseed mix to the top of the “soil.” The seeds are also delicious as a salad topping, on yogurt, rice and other grains, even ice cream (photo © GERB | Amazon).
[8] Small multicolor cherry tomatoes. We found some on stems of (photo © Love Food Art | Pexels).
[9] Red and white endive leaves are perfect for scooping up the hummus.
[10] We wanted to use Mestermacher pumpernickel, a widely-available dense bread cut into slices that are a good size for this project: 3.5″ (9 cm) wide x 5″ (13 cm) long x ¼” (.6 cm) thick. But the store was temporarily sold out (photo © Good Eggs).
[11] Instead, we used Finn Crisp crackers—a good substitute that doesn’t require toasting. The composed salad here consists of hard-boiled eggs plus traditional bagel garnishes: smoked salmon, tomato, red onion, and a creamy dressing (photo © Lantmännen).
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There are garden salads, and then there’s The Garden Salad, an edible raised vegetable garden, the creation of Il Ritorno restaurant in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Il Ritorno is a fine-dining restaurant that marries modern cooking techniques with inspiration and flavor profiles from all over the world.
We’ve been wanting to make this composed salad for some time, since we saw it on the Instagram page of the restaurant.
The day is here: Happy Spring, dear reader.
Well, actually, it’s not a composed salad. You can see what that would look like in photo #11.
It’s actually a creative presentation for crudites, raw vegetables. The dip that usually accompanies them in a separate bowl is actually underneath the vegetables.
The recipe follows, but first a word about composed salads.
> A template to make your own composed salad recipes.
> The history of salad.
> Different composed salads worldwide, below.
COMPOSED SALAD
Composed salad (salade composée [sah-LOD com-poe-SAY] in French) is the opposite of a tossed salad. It’s neither tossed or otherwise mixed.
Rather, the dish is brought to the table with the ingredients arranged separately (and artistically) on individual serving plates, with a ramekin of dressing.
A large salad bowl can also be composed and served at the table, but that defeats the purpose of giving each person an attractive dish to admire.
Perhaps the most famous composed salad in the U.S. is a chef’s salad. Its origins are disputed, but the leading contenders are:
Chef Victor Seydoux at the Hotel Buffalo in Buffalo, New York in the 1920s.
Less commonly cited is Chef Louis Diat at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York City in thee 1940s.
In between the two is the Cobb Salad created by Bob Cobb in 1937 at the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood. It’s very similar to the Chef Salad, the most distinctive differences being avocado, bacon, and blue cheese.
However, variations of meat sliced to top salad greens existed before then. It may have begun as a way to stretch a meal when there were more people to feed than portions of meat.
There are other well-known composed salads from the U.S., Europe, and Asia. See them below.
Should You Mix The Composed Salad On Your Plate?
At formal settings or restaurants, it’s common to eat the salad as served, using your fork to pick up a combination of ingredients.
At home or in a diner or other casual venue, you can mix it yourself if you prefer.
[12] A Cobb salad is perhaps the best-known composed salad in the U.S. Do you want to mix it up or eat it ingredient-by-ingredient? A strategy is to spear a top ingredient plus the greens underneath (photo © Kewpie USA).
INTRODUCTION TO THE RECIPE
This creation gives new meaning to the term “garden salad.”
It was created in the fall, so it uses butternut squash purée with fall spices as the base—and those flavors are delicious any time of year.
The other ingredients included carrot, radish, turnip, pickled ramps, turnip greens, and pumpernickel crisps for the border.
We chose somewhat different ingredients, starting with black bean hummus. To save time we purchased a tub of hummus, a can of black beans, puréed the latter and mixed it into the former.
We seasoned it with cumin, but you could use chipotle or chili powder, coriander, garam masala, smoked paprika, or za’atar.
Also because, much as we love pumpernickel, we couldn’t find the Mestemacher pumpernickel bread, which is dense and easy to cut into “slats.” Pumpernickel.
So we turned to a favorite cracker, Finn Crisp rye crisps, which are made in Caraway, Multigrain, and Original (whole grain rye).
RECIPE: SALAD GARDEN or GARDEN OF CRUDITÉS
You can make your garden as large as you wish. We made it a size for three of us to dig in as a first course.
Use whatever looks best in the produce aisle. To us, that means color! The ingredients we used follow. You should follow your palate, of course.
We used Finn Crisp for the rectangular border around to the hummus base.
Ingredients
Pumpernickel flats (photo #10), sliced and toasted or Finn Crisp (photo #11)
Black bean hummus (photo #3)
Multicolor baby carrots (with the tops, if possible—photo #6)
3″ baby celery stalks with the leaves
Pickled asparagus or dilly beans
French radishes (a.k.a. breakfast radishes†) or Easter Egg radishes (photos #4 and #5)
Red and white endive leaves (photo #9)
Grape tomatoes (photo #8)
Optional garnish: seeds for soil topper (see photo #7)
For Serving
Vinaigrette in ramekins
A plate or basket of extra crudités or crackers to keep on the side for any hummus that is still in the “garden” when all the vegetables and the pumpernickel walls have been consumed.
Or, teaspoons or espresso spoons for scooping up that hummus.
Toothpicks if the cherry tomatoes have no stems (photo #13).
Preparation
We’re certain that the Il Ritorno’s technique is far superior to ours, but here’s what we did to create our copycat recipe.
For starters, choose:
You can either build the garden on the serving plate.
Or build it on the countertop or tabletop on a piece of parchment cut to size. Leave an extra “handle” at the top and bottom to pull it onto a plate (it helps if two people each grab a handle). Then slice off the handle with the point of a sharp knife.
1. MAKE the toast: If using Mestermacher pumpernickel, slice and toast the pieces to serve as a wall around the garden.
2. SPREAD the hummus in a rectangle on the plate or parchment. It should be the size that you seek in your finished product. First lay down just enough hummus to prop up the pumpernickel slices. Then fill the rectangle 3/4 of the way with the rest of the hummus.
3. SCATTER the seeds on top of the hummus (see photo #2). You’re now ready to plant your garden.
[13] If you buy cherry tomatoes on the branch, you can use the stems to hold them while you dip (photo #13). Otherwise, stick a colorful toothpick into each top. These are particularly festive (photo © Helen Thomas | Unsplashz).
How To Make Hummus The Color Of Soil
These ingredients work, but alter the flavor of the hummus. This is not bad, just different.
Black garlic, black bean paste, or red miso.
Dutched cocoa powder.
DIFFERENT COMPOSED SALADS WORLDWIDE
American Composed Salads
Cobb Salad: A hearty salad with rows of chicken, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, tomatoes, blue cheese, and lettuce (photo #12).
Chef Salad: Similar to Cobb salad but often with ham, turkey, and cheese, plus the hard-boiled eggs.
Crab Louis (or Louie): a seafood salad with crab or shrimp, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, asparagus, and Louis dressing, which is similar to Thousand Island but spicier. It’s believed to have been created on the West Coast of in the early 20th century, possibly in San Francisco or Seattle.
European Composed Salads
Caprese Salad (Italy): Slices of mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil leaves, drizzled with olive oil and often, balsamic vinegar.
Horiatiki (Greek Salad—Greece): Tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, Kalamata olives, and feta cheese, dressed with olive oil, oregano, and optionally red wine vinegar. The feta is often served as a large block on top. In the U.S., however, the salad is usually tossed.
Salade Niçoise (France): Tuna, hard-boiled eggs, baby potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, and olives, typically drizzled with olive oil or vinaigrette.
Wurstsalat (Germany/Switzerland): Sliced sausage (wurst), onions, pickles, and sometimes strips or cubes of local cheese, dressed in oil and vinegar.
Asian Composed Salads
Gado-Gado (Indonesia): A mix of boiled vegetables, tofu, and hard-boiled eggs, topped with peanut sauce.
Som Tam (Thailand): A green papaya salad with shrimp, peanuts, lime juice, and chili, often arranged before being mixed at the table.
Hwe Dup Bap (Korea): A seafood salad with raw fish, vegetables, and a gochujang-based dressing, sometimes served over rice.
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Middle Eastern & African Composed Salads
Fattoush (Lebanon): A fresh salad with crunchy pita chips, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a tangy dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, and sumac dressing. While the ingredients are arranged before being dressed, it can be tossed before serving.
Salata Baladi (Egypt): A simple but vibrant salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and parsley, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil.
Have we overlooked your favorite? Let us know!
ABOUT IL RITORNO RESTAURANT
At Il Ritorno in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, the culinary team is led by owner and Executive Chef David Benstock and Chef de Cuisine Sheridan Scott.
Chef Benstock, a St. Petersburg native, honed his craft globally before returning home to establish Il Ritorno, where he offers moderns twist on traditional Italian cuisine.
In 2021, Chef Benstock showcased his culinary prowess by winning against celebrity chef Bobby Flay on the Food Network’s “Beat Bobby Flay.” He did—only 38% of chefs do!
Chef Benstock won with his signature Short Rib Mezzaluna, a half-moon-shaped pasta dish filled with braised short rib and served with a charred shishito pepper fonduta, a rich, creamy cheese sauce traditionally made with Fontina cheese, egg yolks, milk, and butter.
> Follow Il Ritorno on Instagram.
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*Easter Egg radishes aren’t a special variety, but a mix of seeds of different colors (pink, red, purple, and white) that are grown together.
†French breakfast radishes, despite the name, are not traditionally eaten for breakfast in France. They are a popular snack often served with butter and salt on a baguette, or on a plate of crudités.
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