This is a perfect make-ahead salad that is easy and delicious. Mix all the ingredients with a vinaigrette and keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve. The only question in this persimmon salad is “to arugula or not to arugula.” Meaning, the salad can be had with or without the greens, it will taste great either way. Here is the recipe. Continue reading Persimmon Salad
Category Archives: Salads
Apple Zucchini Salad
Apples are in abundance everywhere I look this fall season. I’ve already made an apple crisp, and apple ginger cake, and I’ve been eating an apple a day to keep the doctor away, yet I have lots of apples in my fruit basket. That’s why when I stopped by my friend Rose’s place for lunch to celebrate our mutual friend Devi’s birthday, I came up with a recipe that used lots of apples – an apple zucchini salad. Continue reading Apple Zucchini Salad
Cauliflower & Brussels Sprouts Salad
Cauliflower & Brussels Sprouts Salad
Ingredients:
- 2 -3 cups sliced Brussels sprouts about 1/2-1lb
- 2-3 cups cauliflower florets – half of a head of cauliflower
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 1/2 cup pitted olives
- 2-3 bunches of romaine lettuce cut into chunks
- Dried cranberries or dried cherries (optional)
- A few pitted dates cut into long strips (optional)
- Parmesan shavings (optional)
- Salt and pepper
- honey vinaigrette.
Broad Bean Salad
I can’t say enough great things about my friend Shalini and her culinary skills. She has to be the most creative cook I know. Any time I am at a party where Shalini is invited I always look forward to tasting her interesting new veggie dishes. Dinner at our mutual friends Swati and Tarak’s place was one of those occasions when Shalini once again brought a couple of her creative and delicious vegetarian dishes – a broad bean salad and a spicy roasted butternut squash. Both were exceptional. I will post the recipe for her spicy butternut squash soon, here I am sharing Shalini’s delicious broad bean salad recipe which is easy to make and requires minimal effort. Continue reading Broad Bean Salad
Black Bean Salad with Yellow Squash, Celery & Arugula
This black bean salad with white balsamic vinaigrette tastes fresh, flavorful and filling. Vegetables like yellow squash and celery, and black beans all add substance to the salad while the arugula and green onions lighten it up. Tossing veggies like squash with a sweet white balsamic vinaigrette really enhances the flavor of squash that to me tasted like raw mangoes after it was marinated in the dressing. Give it a try. Continue reading Black Bean Salad with Yellow Squash, Celery & Arugula
White Balsamic Vinaigrette
I love white balsamic vinegar. It’s fruity, sweet and syrupy with a vinegar tang. White Baslamic vinegar tastes so good that sometimes I will have a teaspoon of it just by itself or drizzle it over vanilla ice-cream. This delicious vinegar is made from must which is freshly crushed grape juice that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit, in this case usually from white grapes such as Trebbiano grapes. This is then combined with regular white wine vinegar. The processing of the white grapes for white balsamic is designed to avoid coloration happening, rather than regular balsamic where the must is caramelized, causing the darker colour that it has. This step is omitted in making white balsamic vinegar. Instead, the must is cooked slowly under pressure to avoid that happening, and instead of being aged in charred barrels as regular balsamic is, white balsamic vinegar is aged in uncharred wooden barrels. Many times white balsamic vinegar is flavored with fruits such as white peaches, white nectarines, pears and raspberries, and their fruity fragrances comes through in the vinegar. If you come across white balsamic vinegar definitely get a bottle – it is worth the indulgence!! Now for this salad dressing, I just took my basic simple vinaigrette recipe and substituted it with white balsamic vinegar. I also added a clove of garlic to give the dressing a little edge, Give it a try! Continue reading White Balsamic Vinaigrette
Roasted Beets and Baby Spinach Salad
When I made this beet salad the only takers were Hitesh and me (I made it which means I had to try it). Rani our salad kid tried it too, and I have to say we absolutely loved it! The sweetness of beets with a garlicky flavor combined with sour vinaigrette and topped with creamy goat cheese – yummy this salad was – and thats’ coming from a person whose least favorite veggie is beets. What makes this beet salad taste so good is the addition of garlic when roasting the veggies and the vinaigrette to marinate the veggies. Marinating the roasted beets in the vinaigrette mellows out the beet flavor while also adding a nice tang to the beets. Marinated beets can be served as a side dish or simply add baby spinach to make a leafy green Roasted Beets and Baby Spinach Salad. Seriously folks, except for Hitesh our entire family hates beets – actually hate is a strong word – we don’t like beets. So for all of us to clean this beet salad out completely and not leave anything behind, you know it was delicious! Give it a try! Continue reading Roasted Beets and Baby Spinach Salad
Shallot Vinaigrette
Shallot Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
- 1 small shallot finely chopped or a small onion finely chopped (4 tbsp)
- 4 tbsp vinegar any variety
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp mustard
- 1 tsp honey
- Salt and pepper
Panzanella. Fresh Tomato and Bread Salad
Every August and September we are swimming in garden fresh tomatoes from the garden, from multiple tomato deliveries from my neighbor, and abundance of tomatoes at the Farmer’s Markets. All this tomato bounty really forces me to get creative with tomato recipes especially ones that use fresh off the vine garden tomatoes. This Italian salad called panzanella is one of those recipes that is made with lots of fresh tomatoes and crusty bread. Add a bit of garlic, some onions, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and toss in some good sourdough bread and you have a delicious tomato salad with the added feel goodness of bread. The bread soaks up all the juices from the tomatoes and flavors the bread so beautifully that one can eat multiple bowls of this delicious salad. Continue reading Panzanella. Fresh Tomato and Bread Salad
Broccolini Salad with Mint and Chive Greek Yogurt Dressing
Broccolini Salad with Mint and Chive Greek Yogurt Dressing
serves 6-8
Ingredients:
- 8 cups salad greens or baby spinach
- 8 cups broccolini
- 1/4 of a small onion cut into thin slices
- 2-4 tbsp Pecorino Romano cheese
- 2-4 cloves garlic
- Ingredients for Dressing:
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 4 tbsp milk
- 2 tbsp finely chopped chives
- 2 tbsp finely chopped mint leaves – about 8 mint leaves
- 4 tbsp white balsamic vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic finely minced
- Salt and pepper
Continue reading Broccolini Salad with Mint and Chive Greek Yogurt Dressing
