If you thought that salads were just for summer, then think again. They can make a great alternative to stodgy winter comfort food, especially when enlivened with some hot ingredients such as freshly poached seafood, grilled meat and toasted nuts, or drizzled with a spicy warm dressing. The contrast in temperatures, flavours and textures can provide a really tantalising taste sensation.

In this section you’ll find loads of great warm and cold salad recipes to enjoy throughout the year, from slimmer salads to substantial, satisfying salads, to suit a range of appetites, families and meal occasions.

The two fabulous foodies from Channel 4’s top cookery show, Sophie Michell and Harry Eastwood have created a number of mouth-watering salad recipes from dinner party dishes to sofa suppers, party platters and BBQ buffets.

So, grab a bag and enjoy these delightfully delicious recipes: Chargrilled Halloumi with nectarine, prosciutto, pomegranate and mint salad, Thai Bistro salad, chargrilled lamb with baby vegetables, broad bean, pea and mint salad, hot smoked salmon and fennel seed salad with chilli and ginger dressing.

Salad bags are a great way to help you towards the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables, whether as a crunchy side dish, a refreshing starter, or a filling main course. Just one cereal bowl (80g) of salad leaves counts as one of our five portions of fruit and veg, making a salad recipe one of the easiest, most convenient and hassle free ways to achieve your ‘5-a-day’.

The variety of highly nutritious leaves available in mixed salad bags can also make a substantial contribution to your Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of key vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, such as calcium, iron, potassium, vitamins C and A and folate. From crisp sweet cos, refreshing lettuce, frilly red oak leaf and nutrient rich brassicas, such as watercress and rocket, to tatsoi, shredded cabbage and delicate sprigs of herbs, the variety of colours and textures is enormous, making ‘eating a rainbow’ simple.

With all this goodness packed into one salad bag if you don’t have time to make a more ‘traditional salad recipe’ why not try the following:

• Making a salad soup: sweat a chopped onion in a small amount of stock, then add 2 diced potatoes, seasoning and another 2 pints of stock. Bring to the boil and simmer until the potatoes are soft. Throw in 2 bags of watercress, spinach and rocket and stir for 3 minutes. Take off the heat and liquidise.
• Adding a couple of handfuls of salad leaves to pasta with parmesan and olive oil.
• Throwing a couple of handfuls of mixed salad leaves into stir-fries, spaghetti Bolognese or chilli con carne or onto the top of a pizza.
• Adding a handful of tender sweet leaves, such as lettuce, to wraps or mixing them with other ingredients such as prawns or grated cheese and using them as a filling for an omelette or frittata.
• Injecting extra flavour to your mashed potato by stirring in some watercress with spring onions, cheese and mustard.