Focus on Colour with a Trio of Simple Salads

 

  

When you're planning meals, do you ever consult a colour wheel?  No.  Neither do I!  However, there are some colour theories that we can borrow from artists to create some wonderfully colourful dishes.

I don't often purposely sit down and think about what colours to combine, it's usually more of an instinctive thing.  I may add some green basil leaves to a tomato based dish, not only for the flavour but as a contrasting colour to the red.  If I think the colour of a plate of food needs a lift, more often than not I'll add some green either in the form of herbs, salad leaves or green vegetables.  Sometimes I want a side dish that is simply coloured but is full of textures to complement the main dish.  Usually a green salad made with salad leaves, herbs and vegetables in different shades of green fulfils this need.  Sometimes though, for a change, I'll add some sliced red onion in contrast to the greenness.  I also like to use colours that complement each other like serving a bowl of berries in varying shades of red, purple and blue or a stir fry with the green, yellow and orange of pak choi, baby sweet corn and orange peppers.  Why?  Simply because they are colours that look right together.

Without really thinking about it, this is colour theory in practice.

A simple colour wheel is the easiest way to illustrate these theories.  This though, is not just any colour wheel, it is a food colour wheel!

    

Some colour theories get a bit convoluted, so I'm just going to stick with some very simple ideas.  The first is using just one colour, but in varying shades, otherwise known as a monochromatic colour scheme.  With food, the easiest and most versatile examples of this are green salads and green vegetable dishes and it is as simple as combining various different green salads or vegetables.  Why this works particularly well with food is the array of shapes and textures of the different salads and vegetables so although the dishes are predominantly green within them there is plenty of textural and visual interest.

 

The next technique is one of creating contrasts.  This is incredibly useful when you are garnishing a dish.  It is known as a complementary colour scheme and uses two colours that are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel to create high contrast.  As mentioned earlier, adding basil to a tomato dish or coriander in the Mexican Tomato Salad recipe or combining oranges and blueberries, or red cabbage and sweetcorn are all examples of a contrasting colour scheme.

  

Another simple idea is to use a combination of any three colours that sit next to each other in the colour wheel.  So, green , yellow and orange as in the Chicken and Sweet Pepper Salad or a bowl of red strawberries, dark purple blackberries and blue blueberries.  This is technically known as an analogous colour scheme and creates a truly harmonious blend of colours.

 

Finally, the colour scheme that we all use most often in cooking and it isn't anything to do with the colour wheel, instead it is about following nature's example.  Colour schemes that occur naturally in nature are naturally, harmonious ones.  Generally this means that green goes with all other colours as it is found everywhere in nature.  Most plants have green leaves as a backdrop to whatever coloured flowers they produce, so green is perfect for giving a lift to dishes of any colour.  Other nature inspired colours schemes include autumnal browns, reds and oranges and the vivid reds, pinks and oranges of a dramatic sunset.

You'll notice that white, brown, grey and black aren't in the colour wheel as these are classed as neutral colours.

This month's recipes are all designed to illustrate how to use these colour ideas.  A green salad making the most of seasonal asparagus and fresh herbs, a Mexican inspired tomato salad infused with the smoky flavour of chipotle chillies and finally a delicious chicken salad made with sweet peppers, apricots and pistachios.