One of my favorite kitchen tools is my salad spinner, especially in the summer months when I grow most of my own lettuces or buy the locally grown beauties at my Farm Market.
After a good rinse and a soak in ice-cold water to clean and crisp them, I drain the lettuces in the sturdy basket provided by my OXO Salad Spinner.
After a spin or two, most of the greens, especially the more delicate micro-greens still need to be blotted well with a paper towel to make them ready to allow salad dressing to cling.
I found that during the blotting process, I sometimes tear some of the tender greens. Not usually a problem for a salad for my own meals, but it can be a bit annoying when I am using the greens to style a food photo or make a lovely presentation for guests.
I now use a two-step method to dry my greens and keep even the most fragile ones whole.
After their bath, I take the greens for an initial whirl in the salad spinner.
For the second spin, I add two or three crumpled paper towels and spin again.
After this second spin, I am rewarded with drier greens, intact and beautiful and ready to grace a salad plate for company or their close-up shot.
