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A Good Dish

making food simpler

Salad Every Day – Just Do It!

April 5, 2017

Early spring salad with bagged greens, oranges and toasted pumpkin seeds
Bowl by Adero Willard

I like to eat a salad at least once a day but this can be challenging in the winter. Fresh vegetables don’t always look that fresh come late winter and soup often seems more appealing. I make lots of soups (kind of like a hot salad in some ways) but I almost always accompany them with a salad of some sort. We just got home from 3 weeks of travel and the first thing we wanted was a big green salad.

Fresh salad greens are available year round

With better packaging techniques and shipping, a variety of greens are available in markets and grocery stores year round. Some greens, like watercress, arugula and baby versions of kale, beet and mustard grow well in greenhouses and can be bagged or boxed efficiently and keep pretty well for a couple day in your refrigerator. We can depend on them before local spring greens appear. Pears, apples, persimmons and pomegranates are available at different times during the winter and citrus is still plentiful. If you don’t have fresh fruit, chop some dried apricots or pears or add a handful of dried cranberries or raisins. Add fresh green herbs, storage vegetables (like carrots or radishes) and some toasted seeds or nuts and you have a gorgeous salad on the table in a flash.

Chopped celery and cucumber add crunch to salads

The following recipe is about as basic as salad gets and is is just a framework. It is the same structure for the raw beet and carrot salads I posted this winter only here I’ve used greens. It is more a reminder that a salad is so easy to make and the contents so flexible. Adjust the amounts according to your tastes. You can’t really go wrong. If you don’t feel like lettuce, use leftover or freshly cooked vegetables. Add in raw peas, scallions, raw cabbage, sugar snaps, red onion or whatever you like that you have available. I’ve included my usual vinaigrette recipe which dresses a big bowlful of vegetables plus some to store in the fridge for tomorrow’s salad.

VARIABLE GREEN SALAD with Basic Vinaigrette

  • Watercress, arugula and/or baby greens – the amounts depend on how much salad you want – washed, dried and torn in bite sized piece
  • Pear, apple, avocado or persimmon, diced or some citrus supremes or a handful of bite-sized dried fruit
  • Some combination of carrot, radish, celery, cucumber or jicama, sliced or diced in bite sized pieces
  • Cilantro or parsley, chopped (or any fresh herb you like and have on hand)
  • Toasted or raw pumpkin or sunflower seeds, chopped walnuts or almonds or pistachios (optional)
  • Sprinkle of chia and/or hemp seeds (optional)

Whisk together:

  • 1/4 cup orange, lemon, grapefruit or lime juice or a combination
  • Splash of rice vinegar (about 1 TBs)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil (or part olive, part avocado or walnut oil)
  • Pinch of granulated garlic (I use this instead of garlic powder as it is more flavorful)
  • Pinch of salt and black pepper

If you like a creamier dressing, add 1 TBs Dijon Mustard and 1-2 TBs Yogurt or Buttermilk

Endive, apricot, celery, cilantro and toasted walnuts
Bowl by Adero Willard

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Filed Under: Recipes, Salads, sauces and dressings, Vegetables

Comments

  1. Reva cotter says

    April 5, 2017 at 4:39 pm

    You make everything look beautiful

  2. Della Clason Sperling says

    April 5, 2017 at 5:01 pm

    The salads do look delicious and that bowl is incredible!

    • A Good Dish says

      April 9, 2017 at 10:57 am

      Adero Willard’s work is beautiful – lots of textile-like patterns and gorgeous colors.

  3. Liz Rudey says

    April 5, 2017 at 11:18 pm

    Beautiful pot and salads!

  4. Lynn croton says

    April 6, 2017 at 10:46 pm

    Yumm!

  5. Maria Posada says

    April 8, 2017 at 11:14 pm

    Hola desde Buenos Aires! Hi Wendy! Loved your tittle and of course its content! And the bowl is just exquisite! Thanks so much!

    • A Good Dish says

      April 9, 2017 at 10:59 am

      Hola, Maria! Always trying to keep enough salad on the table! A beautiful bowl makes it that much more appealing, right?

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Welcome to A Good Dish

Here you will find recipes and ideas for easy to make and tasty meals, sources for interesting dinnerware on which to serve those meals and resources for ingredients, classes and food related travel. My goal is to make daily cooking simpler and to inspire you to try different recipes beyond the handful you already make repeatedly. I hope that relaying my experiences will enhance yours. Follow along and let me know about your own cooking and food journeys.

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