From Salad as a Meal: Lemon Zest Salt

Lemon Zest Salt

Patricia Wells’s learned but unfussy approach to food and writing has long appealed to me, and I have dreamed of attending a cooking class with her in Paris or Provence.

I’ve been following her on Twitter (@patriciawellsfr) as she tours the U.S. for a new book, Salad as Meal. A tweet about her friend Susie Kauck’s blog Return to Sunday Supper led me to discover Susie was giving away a copy of the book. (Turns out that Susie’s husband is the photographer Jeff Kauck, whose appetizing photos for Salad as a Meal so deftly convey a sense of place.) This is a book I would have purchased anyway, but what a thrill to win. Thank you, Return to Sunday Supper!

In Salad as a Meal, Wells offers a host of salads, all designed to be the stars of a meal, some with meat, poultry or fish, and some without. I often prepare salads as main courses during the warmer months, but choices for cooler weather are featured, as well. For completing a meal, there are recipes for accompaniments—simple breads, soups and salad dressings. (I love the lemon zest buttermilk dressing.)



A handful of condiments are so brilliantly simple that I had to get in the kitchen. Here’s one, a Lemon Zest Salt, that will be perfect sprinkled on the asparagus now arriving in farmers markets. I think a teeny bit would be spectacular added to a bowl of warm oatmeal.


Lemon Zest Salt

adapted from Salad as a Meal by Patricia Wells

lemon zest and fine sea salt in equal measure

Place salt and lemon zest in a spice grinder and process to a fine powder. Put in a pretty glass container and store in the refrigerator for up to one week.