Fantastic Salads
These are some of my favourite salads to eat at the moment for the summer season!
The trick to salads is using seasonal vegetables and being creative. Salads are an excellent way to get fresh and raw vegetables to taste good and an excellent way to pack in alot of vitamins and minerals to contribute to your 4 serves of vegetables per day. They are easy to make and usually involve no or limited cooking depending if you use them as a side dish or as a meal itself.
Salads can be made for lunch or at dinner, depending what you feel like. They can be as detailed or a simple as you like. Check out some of these below and you can modify them to what your taste buds like.
Refreshing grated carrot and cucumber salad
This is a really refreshing salad for a hot summer day or evening. You can make this into a meal by adding a protein source like smoked chicken or salmon or lentils.
Ingredients:
2 large carrots
1 large cucumber
1 red onion
(option 1 cup of sweet corn)
1 cup low fat yoghurt
Grate carrot and cucumber and finely dice onion. Place in a bowl and mix together. Add yoghurt and combine. Ready to serve immedietly or keep in fridge for 30min- 1 hour to chill (especially nice if hot day). You can definately get adventurous with this but keeping it simple makes it just as nice.
Serves about 4
Pear, Rocket leaf and walnut salad
Ingredients:
Serves 4
1x bag of rocket
1 thinly sliced pear
¼ cup diced walnuts or roasted pinenuts
Drizzle of olive oil
Extra addition:
Parmesan cheese or blue cheese
Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and drizzle 2-3 Tablespoons of olive over the top. A nice edition is adding a sprinkle of blue cheese or parmesan over the top. Or if you want more of the sweetness coming through or flavor, quickly panfry the slices of pear until soft and golden. It’s lovely to pan fry the walnuts or pine nuts as you do the pear.
Blueberry and Baby Spinach Salad
Ingredients
Baby Spinach
Feta Cheese crumbled
Slivered Almonds or Walnuts
Avocado sliced
Toss all ingerdient together and
drizzle with Blueberry Vinaigrette
and Olive Oil.
Baby Spinach with feta and olives
Ingredients:
1 bag of baby spinach
50g feta cheese
1 cup olives (black or green)
2 diced tomatoes
½ purple onion thinly sliced
Extra addition:
Chickpeas or grilled kumara diced
This salad looks good displayed in a shallow dish or on a platter. Evenly spread the baby spinach over the dish. Cube or crumble the feta cheese evenly over the spinach. Then do the same with olives. Mix onion and tomato together and spread down the centre of the platter (just to add some creativity). Roast kumara or chickpeas are nice to add if you want to ‘bulk up’ the salad to more of a meal.
Asparagus, beetroot, pomegranate salad
Serves four
Ingredients:
1 bag of mesculin (can use rocket or spinach)
About 6 stalks of steamed asparagus (to steam: put in a shallow dish with 1cm water and plastic wrap on top, put in microwave on high for 2mins)
1 tin of baby beetroot
1 large pomegranate
In a bowl add the mesculin. Slice the asparagus into 3cm pieces and toss through salad. Slice baby beetroot into halves and add to salad. Scoop out seeds and juice of pomegranate and mix into salad. Mix up 3 Tb balsamic vinegar and 1Tb olive oil and drizzle over the salad. The balsamic vinegar compliments the tartness of beetroot.
Grated carrot, celery and raisin salad (Great when you don’t have a lettuce base)
Ingredients:
2 grated carrots
1 celery stalk
½ cup raisins or sultanas or cranberries
1 wedge of lemon
1/4 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds
Extra addition:
more summer fruits such as mandarin pieces or pineapple chunks
Grate carrot and put in a bowl. Thinly slice celery and mix in with carrot. Mix in raisins and seeds and squeeze lemon juice all over to add taste.
Grilled eggplant and tomato salad
Ingredients
Serves 3
1 eggplant peeled and diced into 1cm circles
3 juicy tomatos sliced into 1cm slices
handful of basil leaves
Salt/ pepper
Extra addition:
mozarella cheese
This is a great one to do on the bbq but can be done on a pan in the kitchen. Grill eggplant on each side for a about 2mins or until soft. Added a few pinches of rock salt and pepper. Grill or fry tomatoes quickly on each side (or can use sundried tomatoes). On a plate arrange a layer of eggplant then place tomatoes on top. Optional to add few pieces of mozarella cheese around. In a food processor blend basil leaves with 2Tb olive oil and 1Tb balamic vinegar together. Drizzle the dressing over the eggplant and tomato.
Peaches and mixed green salad
Tossing juicy peaches into a green salad with a tart raspberry-shallot dressing makes an ideal sweet-savory side good with grilled pork or chicken.
Ingredients:
Serves 4
- 2 cups raspberries, divided
- 3 tablespoons crème de cassis (black currant-flavored liqueur)
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons minced shallots
- 2 tablespoons crème fraîche (optional)
- 2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 cups mixed salad greens e.g.mesculin
- 2 cups thinly sliced peeled peaches (about 2 large)
- 1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts, toasted
Preparation
Combine 1/2 cup raspberries, crème de cassis, and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat; bring to a simmer. Cook 5 minutes or until raspberries are very tender; cool to room temperature. Press raspberry mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, reserving liquid; discard solids. Combine raspberry liquid, shallots, and next 6 ingredients (through salt) in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.
Combine remaining 1 1/2 cups raspberries, mixed salad greens, and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; add shallot mixture, tossing gently to coat greens. Serve immediately.
Orange and Rocket Salad
Move over pear hello orange! Although we lovel pear and rocket together, one must try this variety too.
200g baby rocket leaves
2 juicy oranges diced into 1cm pieces
1/2 cup roast cashews
1 carrot diced
1 avocado
Very simple- just add to the baby rocket in a bowl the diced oranges, carrot, cubed avocado and cashew nuts. The juicy oranges wet the leaves and therefore make a lovely orange essence dressing. A divine addition to the salad is a drizzle of macadamia oil over the salad. So easy so delicious!
EASY DINNER SALADS
Arugula (rocket) Salad with Shrimp and Grapes
Top fresh arugula with boiled shrimp, red and green grapes, celery, fresh basil, crumbled Gorgonzola cheese, and toasted walnuts for this sweet–yet hearty–salad. Finish off with a tangy homemade dressing made from grapes puréeed with vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, minced onion, salt, and pepper.
Bistro Dinner Salad
Ingredients:
6 cups of mesculiin
5 boiled eggs
1 pear thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
50g blue cheese
6 lean bacon stips cooked
Dressing: 2 tsp wholegrain mustard, 3Tb olive oil, 1Tb balsamic vinegar
Toss leaves, walnuts, pear together. Slice bacon into fine strips and place evenly on salad. Slice egg over the top too and sprinkle over the cheese. Mix together the mustar, olive oil and vinegar and drizzle over salad.
This elegant salad is perfect for entertaining guests who love expanding their culinary horizons. The pear’s sweetness contrasts the greens’ slight bitter flavor, while walnuts, bacon, blue cheese, egg, and a mustard tarragon vinaigrette add delicious complexity to the meal.
Grilled Chicken and Nectarine Salad
30 minutes are all you need to get this delicious salad on the table. Grill chicken breasts, slice, and arrange on a bed of fresh greens. Add sliced nectarine, about 30g of goat cheese, and toasted pecans, then drizzle the salad with a homemade oil-and-vinegar dressing.
Crispy Salmon with Herb Salad
Simplicity is the key to this heart-healthy salad, which features skillet-cooked salmon served atop a bed of rocket, parsley, cilantro, basil, and mint tossed in lemon juice and olive oil.
Chicken, Red Potato, and Green Bean Salad
Ingredients:
Grilled chicken loin and sliced into strips or can use rotissarie chicken
5 red potatoes, steamed
2 cups of green peans
Dressing: 1/2 cup plain yoghurt, 1tsp garlic, 1tsp mustard.
Extra addition: 1/2 tin red kidney beans.
Place chicken on salad greens, cut in half and toss in red potatoes and green beans (also red kidney beans). Drizzle over salad dressing.
Spinach and Tomato Pasta Salad
Most pasta salads are heavy on the pasta and light on everything else. This version, which can be served warm or cold, includes a hefty portion of vegetables–both spinach and tomatoes.
INGREDIENTS
200g small pasta, such as orzo (Penne works well too)
100g feta cheese, crumbled
450g grape tomatoes
4 c baby spinach
2 Tb capers, drained
1/4 t black pepper
2 Tb Parmesan or Manchego cheese, shredded
DIRECTIONS
Cook pasta according to package directions until it is al dente (firm to bite). While the pasta is cooking, place spinach, feta, and capers in a large bowl. Place the tomatoes in the bottom of a colander. Once pasta is cooked, drain it over the tomatoes for a quick blanch. Then toss tomatoes and pasta with the spinach mixture. Season with black pepper and garnish with shredded cheese.
Makes six-2 cup servings.
Number of Servings: 6
Refreshing grated carrot and cucumber salad
This is a really refreshing salad for a hot summer day or evening. You can make this into a meal by adding a protein source like smoked chicken or salmon or lentils.