Summer has hit and the rising temperatures and longer evenings also bring a cornucopia of exquisite meals. Barbecues, grilled fish, picnics - all hallmarks of summer eating and something we look forward to throughout the year. However, if there is one thing that binds these meals together, the mainstay of your summer meal, it must be the Salad.  ​

With a bounty of wonderful produce that arrives during these warmer months, Summer Salads should be bright, vibrant and memorable. No more boring bags of iceberg!

Here are 5 of our Summer Salads worth getting excited about.  

A classic dish from Provence, Salade Niçoise is both healthy and satisfying. In this version, we have combined the ingredients from the Mediterranean with the flavours of Japan - marinating the tuna in miso and crusting in sesame seeds and adding wasabi to the classic dressing for an extra zing. There's also quails eggs, black olive crumb and grilled artichoke hearts, so yeah, this salad rocks.

Fattoush salad is a delicious Middle Eastern Salad made using leftover pitta bread that is repurposed as croutons. We’ve added fragrant strawberries that beautifully contrast with the tangy sumac dressing and buttery lambs lettuce, which is more widely available than the traditional purslane. It works fantastically as a light summer lunch or as a side with grilled fish or meat.

Forget buying ready-made Caesar Salad Dressing. Making your own is not only super easy, but we guarantee it's going to taste better than anything bought in every single time. This salad is a classic and we didn't want to mess with it too much. Our incarnation replaces the croutons and grilled chicken with crisp-crumbed Milanese Chicken, two-birds-one-stone, and an added anchovy gremolata for an extra kick.

Most people are familiar with ratatouille as a warm, comforting vegetable stew (although it's also delicious cold on toast). Yet it uses all of these wonderful summery vegetables - tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, courgettes. Is a stew summery? We've made a grilled salad variation of this French staple, served with a pepper and carrot puree and a vibrant herb dressing.

Our own version of this classic dish strays a little from the traditional - we have decided to bake our feta with honey - two very Greek ingredients, which when baked together create wonderfully sweet and salty croutons that add another layer of texture to this dish. Though not strictly traditional, we also add some shredded lettuce to help tie the salad together and leave our onions to marinate in a simple lemon dressing - taking the bite out of the onion and bringing much-needed acidity.