Wilted, dressed leafy greens cannot be revived in ice water: the salt and acid have drawn water out of the leaves, and ice water will not restore it. This salad belongs in a skillet: sauté it, add it to soup or an omelet, and let the dressing’s acid and oil become part of a new dish. Lettuce and other thin, watery leaves cannot be salvaged this way either, so set them aside.
Reviving wilted greens in ice water depends on the cells taking back the water they lost; this method works only when the leaves have lost water. Dressed salad is different. The salt and acid in the dressing have drawn water out of the leaf cells, the oil has coated the surface, and the acid has also softened the cells’ texture. A dressed leaf placed in ice water does not take up water; the layer of oil keeps it out. Rinsing off the dressing and placing the leaves in ice water does not help either, because the salt and acid have already penetrated the leaves. So do not try to revive dressed salad; turn it into something else.
Not every dressed leafy green should be handled the same way. Sturdy greens such as arugula, spinach, purslane, and Swiss chard hold up to cooking and work well in a skillet even after wilting. Lettuce, iceberg, and curly leaf lettuce contain a lot of water and have delicate leaves; after wilting in dressing, they turn mushy and lose flavor when cooked. These leaves cannot be salvaged and should be set aside. In mixed salads with tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions, separate the vegetables from the greens and use them separately, because each one belongs in a different dish.
Sauté dressed salad made with sturdy greens in a skillet. Heat the skillet, add a little olive oil if needed, then add the salad with its dressing; the leaves wilt quickly and the acid in the dressing mellows in the skillet. Add garlic or onion, and crack an egg on top if desired. The dressing already contains salt and oil, so taste the salad before adding any additional salt. Stir the sautéed greens into pasta or serve them alongside rice or bulgur; spoon yogurt over them to make a separate meze.
The second option is soup. Finely chop the dressed greens and add them to a pot of lentil, vegetable, or yogurt-based soup during the final minutes of cooking; the lemon in the dressing adds tartness to the soup. The third option is an omelet or fritters: drain the dressed salad, chop it, and add it to beaten eggs. If the greens are wet enough to make the omelet watery, sauté them briefly in a skillet first. A leftover tomato-and-pepper salad such as shepherd’s salad becomes a menemen base after you drain off its liquid; remove the cucumber instead of adding it to the menemen, because it softens and releases water when cooked.
Cabbage, carrot, celery, grain, and legume salads do not have this problem; their sturdy structure means they benefit from sitting with dressing, and their flavors blend together. The problem is with leafy salads. Adding dressing a little at a time also reduces leftovers; just enough to coat the leaves keeps dressing from pooling at the bottom of the bowl. To avoid leftovers at the next meal, prepare leafy salad without dressing and serve the dressing in a separate container; that way, any remaining salad stays undressed and can be dressed again the next day. How long it can be kept is a storage question and should be considered separately.