How to master a healthy and satisfying salad this summer
Never underestimate the power of early food experiences: Growing up with salad on the menu was the point of entry into a food business for Theo Kirwin of Irish salad-focused restaurant Sprout & Co.
'In my childhood, I was fortunate to have a mum who was interested in eating good food, and she instilled that into us,' says Theo, who, together with his brother Jack, set up Sprout & Co in 2015.
'We would always have had a salad with every dinner growing up. To this day, when cooking for friends, I like to put salads on the table. I think that a big green salad goes with everything.'
Theo also brought another essential element from childhood: That salad secret sauce, a good dressing, his father's speciality. '[Dad] made a really good green salad with a very mustardy French dressing. We all learned how to make the French dressing when we were kids,' he says.
'We always knew that salads could be delicious and that they should be much more than just dainty leaves or a 'guilt-free' option. They're much more delicious than that. We wanted to create healthy food that is flavour-led. The ethos of Sprout was to create healthy, fresh food using local and seasonal ingredients to make something properly delicious. And we haven't strayed from that idea since day one.'
In 2015, when the brothers first opened Sprout & Co in Dublin city centre, locally-sourced, seasonal, healthy food on the high street wasn't perceived as something that would set the world alight. 'At the time, salads were niche,' says Theo. Three cafés had already failed in the Dawson St location where they started.
Ten years later, having survived the covid-caused hospitality crisis, there are seven Sprout & Co outlets in Dublin, one in Kildare Village, and work is under way on their ninth restaurant, on Cork's Winthrop St, due to open at the end of the summer.
Unlike the oft-ignored traditional Irish side salad featuring limp lettuce leaves, slices of tasteless tomatoes, peppers, and lots of raw red onion (to remind you of your meal hours later), Sprout & Co takes a salad to another level: The menu is split into warm bowls, signature salads and wraps, along with a few seasonal sides.
Each dish — for example, current favourite Tokyo bowl or the classic paprika chica — is layered up from a base of grains, vegetables, and proteins (beans, chicken, trout, tofu) and finished with punchy dressings and crunchy toppings. There are vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options.
These colourful, full-textured, and flavoured salads can also be produced in the home kitchen. Theo's cookbook, last year's bestselling Sprout & Co Saladology: Fresh Ideas for Delicious Salads (Mitchell Beazley), gives many recipes from the restaurant kitchens, albeit in more manageable quantities. The recipes also appear on the kinetic Sprout & Co social media feeds on Instagram and YouTube (@sproutandco), and TikTok (@sprout_and_co).
Theo's fast-paced, ASMR-friendly cooking videos, including the popular 'Stop Giving Away Our Secrets' series, give a curated insight into the recipes behind many of the dishes.
It's also where they tell the story of their suppliers, including Goatsbridge trout and Manor Farm Irish chicken, and the Sprout farm in Kildare, where they've worked on growing some of their seasonal supplies since 2018. 'We were inspired [by the owners of] Ballymaloe and Longueville House and restaurants in the fine dining space who were growing for themselves,' says ¦Theo, 'as a way of bringing in the best quality. Why couldn't a fast casual restaurant take the same approach?'
The idea of managing a farm-to-fork or seed-to-bowl operation is ambitious; the reality, as any grower knows, can be very different. 'It was incredibly challenging,' he admits.
"It's still very challenging, but it's really rewarding, and when you taste it, you notice it.'
The farm, under Trevor Harris's leadership, is certified organic and biodynamic and, after much experimentation, focuses on growing kale, cos lettuce, mustard greens, parsley, spinach, and rocket that can quickly go from field to restaurant.
As soon as vegetables are harvested, they start to lose flavour and nutrients, so it makes sense to shorten the supply chain if at all possible. It's something that Jack had noticed when he had a memorable encounter with a just-picked tomato while doing the 12-week certificate course at Ballymaloe Cookery School in 2012; Theo followed suit in 2020.
'It's such an amazing place for anyone interested in food and wanting to learn about food,' Theo says about his time at the Cookery School. 'You're surrounded by people talking about food and seasonality, cooking with and eating the best local produce and vegetables that they're growing in the gardens and farm.'
By taking childhood salad experiences and bringing them right up to date for health-conscious 21st-century consumers, Sprout & Co has put itself on the map, eight (almost nine) times over. When it comes down to it, salads still grab Theo.
'We're really a flavour-first food brand,' he explains.
'We're not nutritionists —we're not creating things in a laboratory — but we are really excited about creating delicious food that's craveable, and also healthy.'
Theo Kirwan's top tips for summertime salads:
1. Use your larder: 'My larder is a shelf in my apartment — with all the different vinegars, soy sauces, oils, capers, and pickles that make it easy to create flavours. Buy a few staples, some nice quality olive oil and some pickled things.'
'My larder is a shelf in my apartment — with all the different vinegars, soy sauces, oils, capers, and pickles that make it easy to create flavours. Buy a few staples, some nice quality olive oil and some pickled things.' 2. Lean into fresh
ingredients: 'Summer is the most exciting time to make salads using fresh ingredients like tomatoes, courgettes, herbs, and leaves. All the fun things! You don't even need to turn on the oven.'
'Summer is the most exciting time to make salads using fresh ingredients like tomatoes, courgettes, herbs, and leaves. All the fun things! You don't even need to turn on the oven.' 3. Season and contrast: 'If you want a great salad, it comes down to seasoning and how we merge little bits of contrast, whether it's something hot with something cold or a few little flakes of salt crystals on a tomato.'
'If you want a great salad, it comes down to seasoning and how we merge little bits of contrast, whether it's something hot with something cold or a few little flakes of salt crystals on a tomato.'
4. Dress it up: 'I think
vinaigrettes should be full-flavoured. If you're making French dressing, just a little bit of garlic grated into a classic mustard vinaigrette makes all the difference. If you make a punchy dressing and combine that with fresh ingredients, then you're going to have something delicious.'
Paprika Chica
Our mum lived in Salamanca, western Spain, in her 20s and fell in love with the language, a Spanish man (who is not my dad) and, of course, the food. Growing up, we spent summer holidays in Spain, searching for little hole-in-the-wall amazing tapas bars where Mum encouraged us to try everything. Jack and I owe her a lot for establishing our love of food from an early age.
She brought back a recipe for a dipping sauce, which in the '90s would have been the height of sophistication, served to us with crudités at family gatherings. We called it 'Mum's Spanish dip' and it's a great way to get kids eating lots of vegetables.
In later years, we developed her recipe further and it became Sprout's 'Paprika Yoghurt', which has been a bestseller. Thanks, Mum!
Recipe
Serves 4
8 boneless chicken thighs
200g (7oz) brown basmati rice
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
5 bay leaves
400ml (14fl oz) water
2 tablespoons white wine
2 sweet potatoes
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 quantity French Dressing (see page 197)
1 quantity Paprika Yoghurt (see page 199)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the garlic & herb marinade
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
1 heaped tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1 heaped tablespoon oregano leaves
1 heaped tablespoon thyme leaves
1 heaped tablespoon chopped rosemary leaves
To serve
4 large handfuls of spinach
5 spring onions, sliced into rounds
2 red chillies, sliced into rounds
Method:
1. Start by marinating the chicken. To make the marinade, blitz the olive oil, garlic and herbs in a food processor, then season with a generous pinch of salt and black pepper. Add the marinade to the chicken thighs and rub it in with your hands, making sure the chicken is nicely coated. Cover and leave to marinate at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, but ideally in the fridge for 24 hours.
2. When ready to cook, wash the rice until the water runs clear, then drain. Place the rice in a medium saucepan and add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the finely chopped garlic, bay leaves, a big pinch of salt and the water. Bring to the boil, then cover the pan with a tight fitting lid and immediately turn the heat down to its lowest setting and cook for 40 minutes, or until all the water has been absorbed. Turn the heat off and fluff the rice up with a fork. Place the lid back on and leave to steam for 10 minutes.
3. Once the rice is underway, preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan, 425°F), Gas Mark 7.
4. Transfer the marinated chicken to a baking tray, ensuring each thigh has plenty of space to distribute the heat and achieve some colour. Add the white wine to the tray, then roast for 35–45 minutes until well browned and cooked through, but as these are thighs, you can afford to cook them for longer without them becoming dry.
5. Once the chicken is in the oven, cut the sweet potatoes into 2-cm (¾-inch) cubes. Place on a baking tray, add the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil, the chilli flakes and a generous pinch of
salt, then toss with your hands until well coated. Add to the oven with the chicken and roast for 20–30 minutes until you have some crispy edges and the potatoes are tender.
6. When everything is cooked, remove the chicken from the oven, strip the meat from the bones and slice. Add the roasted chicken to a large mixing bowl together with the sweet potato, brown rice, spinach, sliced spring onions and red chilli. Pour over the dressing and gently toss. Divide into individual bowls and top with a dollop of the paprika yogurt.
From Sprout & Co Saladology: Fresh Ideas for Delicious Salads (Mitchell Beazley).
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