TIP OF THE DAY: Technicolor Salad

February 7, 2014 at 5:27 am · Filed under Recipes, Vegetables-Salads-Herbs

Salads don’t have to be boring. The more varied the ingredients, the more interesting they are. Colors, textures are as important as flavors.

While winter might seem to be a tough season for salad, there’s actually a lot you can do to liven things up. Take this “Technicolor Salad.”

While green ingredients are a given, look for ingredients from the other produce “color groups.”

Green vegetables: edamame (soybean), herbs (basil, cilantro, dill, parsley), Granny Smith apples, grapes, green beans, green peas (frozen are fine), mesclun or other salad greens, olives, snow peas, sugar snap peas

Orange vegetables: bell pepper strips, carrots (baby carrots, sliced or shaved carrots), kumquats, grape tomatoes, mandarin wedges, mango, sweet potatoes (cubed or sliced)

Purple vegetables: cauliflower, grapes, kalamata olives, kale, Peruvian potatoes, red cabbage, red raisins (plumped in cider)

Red vegetables: beets, bell pepper strips, cherry tomatoes, dried cherries or cranberries, grape tomatoes, lady apples, mini red jacket potatoes, pomegranate arils, radicchio, radishes, red grapes/champagne grapes, red onion

Yellow vegetables: bell pepper strips, golden raisins (plumped in cider), lemon peel, miniature pattypan squash, star fruit (carambola)

Plus

“A technicolor salad.” Photo courtesy California Pizza Kitchen.

Nuts and seeds

Any other ingredients you like (cheese, dinner salad proteins, e.g.)

Dressing of choice

A complex salad should be paired with a light dressing, like a vinaigrette. If you like a creamy dressing, try the yogurt vinaigrette recipe below.

Preparation

1. COMBINE ingredients in a serving bowl.

2. DRESS and serve. Professionals toss the salad ingredients with clean hands or plastic gloves. We use the clean hands technique. If you don’t want to do either, use two large spoons to lift and flip the salad. But you’ll get much more even coverage with the hand-toss technique.

Yogurt vinaigrette. Photo courtesy Betty
Crocker.