Salad Recipes

vibe666

rocket or a mixture of baby leaves
halved cherry tomatoes
thin cucumber batons
spring onion
beetroot batons
sweet red peppers (the posh long ones that look like a giant chilli)
crumbled feta cheese
grilled smoked mackerel flaked over the top with the oil from cooking it drizzled over the leaves

om nom nom

Dizzyblonde

Rocket leaves
Grilled goat's cheese
Pine nuts
Cherry tomatoes
Thinly sliced red onion
A dressing of balsamic vinegar and honey

shrapnel222

chicken liver salad. nyom nyom nyom.

looking4advice

Any other recipes that are non lettuce/leaf based e.g. kind of like one with chicken, bacon lardons, pesto, philadelphia - the kind of ones you would see in Avoca cafe.

looking4advice

Dizzyblonde wrote: »

Rocket leaves
Grilled goat's cheese
Pine nuts
Cherry tomatoes
Thinly sliced red onion
A dressing of balsamic vinegar and honey

These are the kind of ones I make already.

j@utis

grate couple of big carrots, add half cup of raisins - washed and drained, one crushed garlic clove and some walnut pieces(optional but I love walnuts so loads of them, please). dress with some olive oil and mayo. it takes very little time to prepare if you use food processor to grate the carrots and all ingredients can be found almost in every kitchen. my partner says he could live on it

emeraldstar

j@utis wrote: »

grate couple of big carrots, add half cup of raisins - washed and drained, one crushed garlic clove and some walnut pieces(optional but I love walnuts so loads of them, please). dress with some olive oil and mayo. it takes very little time to prepare if you use food processor to grate the carrots and all ingredients can be found almost in every kitchen. my partner says he could live on it

Or in an alternative version, swap the raisins for chopped broccoli. (I tend to go for raw as it's easier, but you might prefer it cooked very slightly.) Really good.

neuro-praxis

I love a really good tomato salad. Get lots of different varieties of tomatoes, in all different colours, shapes and sizes.



Chop and add to a large bowl with one crushed clove of garlic, some rock salt, black pepper, a good glug of olive oil and a nice vinegar - red wine or balsamic are my favourite. Stir together and allow the flavours to mingle.



Serve heaped on slices of lightly toasted ciabatta. Mmmm. Sorry for the rubbish photos!

quaalude

This is a really nice, filling, non leaf-based salad, good for lunch.

1 ripe tomato, finely diced
Half a red onion, finely diced
A couple inches cucumber, finely diced
Can chickpeas, drained
1 clove garlic, crushed
Juice 1 lemon
Glug of extra virgin olive oil
Good seasoning of salt and pepper

Mix together all the ingredients in a big bowl.
Serve at room temperature.
Even nicer if left overnight in the fridge!

kylith

I love rice salad

Mix of cooked white, brown, red, and wild rice
Grated carrot
Raisins
Fresh Coriander
Orange juice mixed with a drop of red wine vinegar.

Mix everything together (use the dressing to just moisten everything; you don't want orange and rice soup). Let sit so the raisins can absorb the dressing. Eat.

The dressing is the hardest part to do; you need to be very careful adding the vinegar or you'll overpower the orange. Adding a little at a time and tasting as you go is the best thing to do.

Swampy

I just don't get raisins in a salad. I hate soggy raisins.

Dinkie

I'm not very good at quantities - most of its based on taste.

Mushroom salad

Sliced mushrooms
Mayonaise
Sesame seeds
Mustard
Salt/Pepper

Mix to taste

Carrot salad
Grated carrots
Sesame oil
Soy sauce
Sesame seeds

Mix to taste

Roast veg salad
Roast what ever vegies you like. I normally do courgette, aubergine, peppers, onions, tomatoes.
Mix together and drizzle with some balsamic vinegar and good olive oil

Mrs Fox

I love love love Avoca's Broccoli, Cherry Tomato, Hazelnut & Feta Cheese Salad.
*credit to Avoca Salads Cookbook and valueseekers.ie


Ingredients:
110g hazelnuts
400g broccoli florets – bite sized
110g feta cheese, bite sized chunks
225g cherry tomatoes, halved
200ml French dressing (make your own- mix together in a jar the juice of a lemon, and 3 table spoons of olive oil, one clove of crushed garlic and salt & pepper – put the lid on & shake the dressing, use what you need and keep the rest in the fridge – it will keep for 3-4 days)


Toast the hazelnuts in a hot oven, until skins brown. Tip into a tea towel and rub off the skins. Allow to cool, then put the hazelnuts in a bowl with the broccoli and cherry tomatoes. Gently toss with the dressing and season with pepper. Salt may not be needed, as the feta is usually salty enough. Top with the feta.

Happyman42

Equal parts raw grated beetroot and grated carrot, finely chopped red onion or spring onions, salt and pepper, dash of balsamic vinegar, dash of lemon juice, fire a handful of raisins in there if you wish = Summer on a plate. I am looking at my beetroot plants with lust in mine eyes!:D

curly from cork

I love fruit in my salad, oranges, grapes, strawberries, apple , banana,

Michellenman

Quinoa Salad - serves 1.

Cook half a cup of quinoa on a gentle boil in 1 cup of salted water until the quinoa has absorbed all the liquid and is tender to touch.

Finely chop 1/3 red bell pepper
1/3 green pepper
1/2 small red onion
A good chunk of cucumber
A handful of roughly chopped sugar snap peas.

Combine the Quinoa and veg and mix in 1 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard, a dash of worchestshire sauce, half a tsp paprika, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar and some olive oil. Season with pepper, it should be plenty salted already. Toss the veg and Quinoa about in the dressing and eat warm or cold Keeps really well in the fridge over night

_blank_

Spiced couccous is a good base for a salad too.

Enough couscous for however many are eating.

Add to it

Paprika
Ground Cumin
Ground Coriander
Ground Cinnamon
Cayenne or Chilli Powder to taste
Glug of Olive Oil and/or teaspoon of butter
some garlic salt if you have it
small dash of lemon juice

Then stick in the boiling water to cover, cover with a tea towel and wait until the couscous is ready, I find it's better to leave in the fridge to cool before serving with a salad.

I chop in tomato, pepper, oregano, red onion or spring onion.

Zuiderzee

Coleslaw comes from the German or Dutch Kool-sla, literally cabbage salad.
This is not the soggy mayonaise soaked lump we get here, but a fresh and very healthy winter salad.

This time of the year there tends not to be much in the garden.It is sometimes referred to as the hunger gap, the space between last years harvest and this years crop.

But with some planning you can have fresh food from the garden all year round, its just a question of working with the seasons.

In addition to spring cabbage, Kale's and leeks, last November I set up endive or chicory roots to force into Chicons.

One type was Witloof, which I am familiar with from my time in the Netherlands. The other was radichio which I use in this recipe.

The seeds were hard to find but I finally sourced them from gardenplantsbypost.com in limerick.

This is a great veg, already it has provided summer greens for salads and potato dishes last summer, now it provides a salad and a hearty warm meal. Now the roots could be roasted and added to coffee! One pack of seeds, three uses over 7 months.

Anyway, a healthy, tasty spring salad.

Take one chicon of endive and chop it up.
Get the top half of a small winter cabbage - slice into ribbons, very fine.
Remove any part of the core, its the leaves only that you want.
Take a carrot, grate - or as I prefer, use a potato peeler to create broad ribbons.
Mix together.

Add some raisins or grated apple if you have it - wallnut is also very nice in the mix and this is a great, fresh, crunchy salad.With the honey in the dressing it helps compliment the slight bitterness of the chicon.

Dressing is
a teaspoon of mustard,
pressed clove of garlic,
salt and pepper
A teaspoon of carroway seed well pounded
A teaspoon of honey.

Add this to 200 ml Donegal rapessed oil and 50ml cider vinegar and shake well.

Pour over mixed salad and toss well.

With the colours, a bit of fresh chopped parsely as a garnish looks great as well

Because I grew two types of chicory the full meal recipe also does a cooked Witloof with ham and a mushroom chive sauce to kind of highlight the versitility of the recipe - see my garden blog for that one.

Dizzyblonde

Happyman42 wrote: »

Equal parts raw grated beetroot and grated carrot, finely chopped red onion or spring onions, salt and pepper, dash of balsamic vinegar, dash of lemon juice, fire a handful of raisins in there if you wish = Summer on a plate. I am looking at my beetroot plants with lust in mine eyes!:D

Sounds delicious. I grow beetroot too and usually make chutney with it all. I'll be trying your salad next time

neuro-praxis

If you put this in the salad thread, it would probably get more interest.

Faith

neuro-praxis wrote: »

If you put this in the salad thread, it would probably get more interest.

Indeed.

Lyaiera

I've never really been into salads, and have never made one. I need to start eating more healthily and lose weight though so green leafy stuff seems like a good option. I had my first salad in years at a Japanese restaurant a few weeks ago, and it was ok (even though I had a bit to drink at the time.) I want to start incorporating salads into my diet but I don't even know how to make one.

So, Boardsies, tell me what to put into a salad. I wouldn't even know what half the stuff looks like as green leafy things all just look green and leafy to me. If I was to start at the start, by going into a Lidl or Supervalu what should I be buying, how much of whatever should I be using, what should I be putting over them?

dipdip

In my opinion, the key to a good salad is the dressing. If you find some dressings that you like, you will eat a mountain of greens.

I have no objection to iceberg and the like: I eat them all the time. But if I am making a proper salad meal, I use baby spinach, rocket and the 'live lettuce' ranges that you can buy in most supermarkets now.

Also, salad needs to be fresh. Once you've dressed it, you need to eat it. Don't leave it to stand.

I like a nice contrast of sharp and sour with sweet in my dressings. My standard salad dressings are:

Olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar, honey and wholegrain mustard
Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, maple syrup and wholegrain mustard
Balsamic vinegar, raspberry jam

Occasionally I just have oil and lemon juice or oil and vinegar.

Now with your fresh leaves and your dressing you have a great base for your fillings. I like to add a nice cheese - my favourite is soft goat's or a salty feta.

I usually add a protein source - some examples would be nuts or seeds, or a can of chickpeas, rinsed. Of course you can add meat or fish, too. I love to eat prawns with a salad, or finely chopped and fried bacon.

You might want to add extra vegetables - shaved cucumber or carrot strips, or finely sliced red onion. You might want to add fruit - I like mango and pomegranate.

Some fresh herbs are nice too occasionally - chopped mint is refreshing.

If you are bringing a salad to work bring the ingredients and assemble them when you are ready to eat.

Remember also that a salad can be made up of pre-roasted vegetables. My favourite is to roast sweet potato and corn. Then I make a dressing of olive oil, lime juice, white wine vinegar, garlic, chilli and finely minced red onion. Toss it all together and top with feta and chopped coriander. This is spectacular.

Another good salad is Mediterranean vegetables roasted - peppers, onions, courgettes. Allow to go cold and toss with a tangy dressing. Top with a cheese of your choice and away you go. Eat with a little hoummus and pitta.

One way to eat iceberg that is a little novel is the American steakhouse way - bin the flabby outer leaves, then cut the iceberg lettuce into four quarters (as you might an orange). Make up a dressing of creme fraiche, mayo and blue cheese and drizzle it over your iceberg wedge, and serve as a starter. Really refreshing.

My all time favourite salad is spinach and rocket, tossed with a raspberry and balsamic vinaigrette, topped with bacon and creamy goats cheese. An absolute winner.

Basically the world is your oyster.

dipdip

Oh - another couple of favourites:

Traditional caprese - layer slices of beef tomato with slices of buffalo mozzarella and basil leaves. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with crunchy sea salt flakes. Nyommy. (I also add balsamic vinegar because I am a philistine and I love vinegar.)

Then the one I eat AT LEAST once a week - how did I forget this? Tomato salad!

Get lots of your favourite kinds of fresh tomatoes - if you are in Dublin go to Fallon and Byrne and get every shape colour and size under the sun. I like to chop them into little dice but you may prefer to tear them. Place in a bowl and squeeze a fat clove of garlic over them. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and really good balsamic vinegar, nice and dark and thick. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Toss together. Eat piled on top of toasted ciabatta. Pure heaven in a bowl.

Chattastrophe!

Lyaiera wrote: »

I've never really been into salads, and have never made one. I need to start eating more healthily and lose weight though so green leafy stuff seems like a good option. I had my first salad in years at a Japanese restaurant a few weeks ago, and it was ok (even though I had a bit to drink at the time.) I want to start incorporating salads into my diet but I don't even know how to make one.

So, Boardsies, tell me what to put into a salad. I wouldn't even know what half the stuff looks like as green leafy things all just look green and leafy to me. If I was to start at the start, by going into a Lidl or Supervalu what should I be buying, how much of whatever should I be using, what should I be putting over them?

I find it's handy to make up a salad in a huge bowl in the fridge, and just take out as much as you want at any time. Saves you the hassle of washing and chopping every time!

If I was shopping for this, I'd buy, for example:
- Either a head of iceberg lettuce or a bag of baby spinach leaves
- Peppers
- Tomatoes
- A cucumber
- A red onion
- Pine nuts

I'd wash, dry and chop the leaves. Chop up the peppers, tomatoes and cucumber and throw them all into the big bowl with the leaves. Finely chop the red onion - for some reason, I'm not even sure why, I keep this in a separate bowl in the fridge and just add to the salad each time I'm eating it. Toast the pine nuts in a large pan and throw them into the big bowl. Mix it all up. Cover with clingfilm. This should be good for around four days in the fridge.

Then when I'm hungry I transfer as much as I want into another bowl. Add in the onion. Add in maybe tuna, chicken or ham. Add a dressing - French Dressing is a nice simple one to start off with, I have a bottle of it in the fridge but it's very easily home-made. Even just olive oil is nice as a dressing. I often have cheese as well, maybe fresh mozzarella, or just normal grated cheddar or whatever.

I know the above is really basic and unadventurous. Might be a good way to get started though, and you can experiment with more ingredients as time goes on!

ElleEm

My basic salad is cucumber, spring onions, peppers, beetroot and mixed leaves. I prefer the variation of leaves in the prewashed bag of mixed leaves and you don't have to wash (and dry- argh!) lettuce then. Sometimes I will add avocado, grated carrot or sweetcorn. If I am having a salad for dinner I might dice a boiled baby potato or two into it. This is the base then, so I might add chicken (sometimes I marinate it in cajun seasoning), egg with a bit of mayo and paprika, or a tin of tuna. My 'go to' dressing is half a bottle of balsamic vinegar!

pampootie

Nom dipdip, that all sounds amazing, I'm craving a salad now!

OP a few I like are:

Rocket, sliced brie, radish, red pepper and sundried tomatoes in some of the oil from the tomatoes

Roast butternut squash with balsamic vinegar. Toast pine nuts in a dry frying pan until just coloured. Toss together with rocket and baby spinach, cubes of feta and a balsamic olive oil dressing. Amazing with steak too!

A really simple one I've eaten in Italy: rocket, shaved parmesan, good olive oil.

Baby salad leaves, cold chicken, finely diced onion, ripe tomatoes, mozzarella and pesto

Homemade coleslaw is a lovely addition to a salad too, finely chop an onion and a stick of celery, shred some carrot and white cabbage, add a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard and mayo to taste.

Chattastrophe!

ElleEm wrote: »

My basic salad is cucumber, spring onions, peppers, beetroot and mixed leaves. I prefer the variation of leaves in the prewashed bag of mixed leaves and you don't have to wash (and dry- argh!) lettuce then. Sometimes I will add avocado, grated carrot or sweetcorn. If I am having a salad for dinner I might dice a boiled baby potato or two into it. This is the base then, so I might add chicken (sometimes I marinate it in cajun seasoning), egg with a bit of mayo and paprika, or a tin of tuna. My 'go to' dressing is half a bottle of balsamic vinegar!

I actually find that a bag of iceberg lettuce really doesn't cost all that much more than a head of lettuce - and, yeah, it saves you the pain in the ass of drying it! I'm pretty boring and prefer plain lettuce and/or spinach to the mixed leaves.

What way do you do the egg? Hardboiled?

Jezek

Greek village salad

2 tomatoes, sliced
1 small cucumber, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
Feta cheese, cut in small cubes
Black olives from Kalamata
Extra virgin olive oil
Wine vinegar
Salt
Oregano
Freshly ground pepper (optional)

Directions
Wash and cut all the vegetables. Add the olive oil, vinegar, oregano and salt and mix well. Add feta and olives on the top with a sprinkle of oregano on feta.

ElleEm

Chattastrophe! wrote: »

I actually find that a bag of iceberg lettuce really doesn't cost all that much more than a head of lettuce - and, yeah, it saves you the pain in the ass of drying it! I'm pretty boring and prefer plain lettuce and/or spinach to the mixed leaves.

What way do you do the egg? Hardboiled?

Yeah, hardboil it, slice it in half, blob a bit of mayo on it, then sprinkle a bit of paprika on it. Mashed up egg mayonnaise makes me gag, but if I cut it myself, I can cope!

cee_jay

I am loving these salad ideas. I hate cucumber and tomato, so these 2 very basic salad ingredients are always missing from my salads.

My go to salad is baby spinach, yellow & red pepper, red onion, feta cheese, chorizo & balsamic vinegar. Sometimes I might add hard boiled egg & pine nuts/sesame seeds.
I love Cobb Salads (American Style) - leaves, crispy warm bacon, avocado, cheese, and a runny poached egg on top.
Taco salads are also very tasty, but a bit naughty.

When I am bringing salads for lunch, variety in the base leaves, cheeses and eggs can shake things up an awful lot so you don't feel you are eating the same thing over and over.

Jezek

another salad (but this is for the adventurous salader ) that I love is taboulleh (tabouli/tabulle etc). This is a salad of bulgur wheat, half-cooked, soaked in large amounts of herbs and salad veg. I found this recipe online, it's pretty much what I do ( I eyeball everything). The trick is to have A LOT of herbs and tomatoes, loads more than bulgur.


4 bunches of Parsley chopped finely
1 bunch of fresh green mint chopped finely
1 small cucumber chopped finely
5 medium sized tomatoes chopped
1 small white onion chopped finely
1/4 cup of fine Burghul (fine cracked wheat #1)
1/3 to 1/2 cup of quality olive oil
1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 to 2/3 teaspoon of salt

this is great for making ahead, as the bulgur fully cooks in the juices, this means that this is brilliant for taking to work etc. Some people add spices to this, feel free to experiment. Such as as pepper, cinammon, star anise, ginger etc...

kylith

My favourite lunch salad is:
baby gem lettuce
cherry tomatoes
raw baby corn
Feta cheese
chopped cold potatoes
chopped hardboiled egg
French dressing

So tasty and filling

MissFlitworth

Jezek wrote: »

another salad (but this is for the adventurous salader ) that I love is taboulleh (tabouli/tabulle etc).

LOVE taboulleh! Thanks for the recipe Have a bag of bulgher making sad, puppy dog eyes at me so going to make a batch tomorrow for lunch during the week.


I really like a 'paleo' salad that a burrito bar near my office in Dublin makes. I mimic it at home a good bit, if I have leftover carnitas I use those but otherwise I fry a chicken fillet or some quorn chunks in some old el paso seasoning.

Dark green leaves (I normally use baby spinach)
Couple of tablespoons of cottage cheese
Chicken/Pork/Quorn
Half a ripe avocado, diced
Toasted nuts
Chopped tomato
Cucumber
Beans (kidney, pinto, chickpeas, anything really)
Any other random veg I have in the house
Something oniony - red onion, scallions, shallots, whatever I have really


I dress this with a squeeze of lime juice, a little oil and a minced chipotle in adobo but if I didn't have the chipotle (which is a chili) I'd just make a dressing 1:3 oil lime juice to oil and possible a little sugar to take the sourness away. It's healthy, crawling with nutrients, filling generally makes me happy. If I was making it to take to work I'd put squeeze some lime over the avocado to stop it from going brown and keep the cottage cheese & dressing in a little tub to pour over when I was about to eat it to stop the salad descending into sludgery.

ElleEm

Lime always makes me want a mojito!

fiddlechic

My go-to salad meal is:
Mix of green leaves - lettuce, spinach and whatever else
Spring or red onion
Cucumber, and Beetroot chopped to same size as quartered cherry tomatoes
Walnuts
A few crispy smoked rashers
Dressing - 2:1 either cider vinegar or lemon juice to olive oil with some wholegrain mustard
Mix all together, and then top with lots of goats cheese.

Markcheese

I tend to cook by the fukitin method, basically what's in the fridge/cupboard, and dressing (3 spoons oil 1 spoon vinegar ,a pinch salt and what ever flavoring you like: garlic,chilli,parsley and honey, mustard,ect)
You don't need lettuce !! I usually do that on the side.. (kids won't touch it )
Yesterdays salad was ... Tomatoes, beansprouts,broccoli (leftover cooked) ,beetroot(supermarket cooked),chives,toasted seeds,and goats cheese (that'd seen better days),
I had boiled eggs and cheese on the side, (and forgot the lettuce)

livinsane

My salad isn't leafy but but it's a great one to keep in the fridge for a few days. It's filling and a great pre-prepared lunch. It's probably the reason I haven't starved to death since having a baby as I find time just runs away from me during the day and suddenly I am ready to drop with hunger. I make a big batch every few days.

Cooked cooled fusilli pasta
Boiled eggs cooled and chopped
Chopped cherry tomatoes
Chopped spring onion
Tin of sweetcorn
Dash of mayo/french dressing/salad cream.

The Hill Billy

I'm using mod privilege to dig up this ol' thread with salad recipes. As I find more threads with suitable recipes I'll merge them with this one.

Please feel free to add new recipes to this thread & remember that it is not just about leaves & the like. We'd also love to have your pasta, cous cous, rice, whatever salad recipes too.

tHB

vibe666

we quite regularly do a nice grilled mackerel salad.

usually with baby mixed leaves and rocket, the usual spring onions, baby toms, cucumber, peppers and top with fresh beetroot (tesco baby sweetfire if we can), feta and flaked grilled mackerel with a horseradish dressing made with horseradish, greek yog, squeeze of lemon and salt/pepper to taste, slightly watered down to drizzling consistency if needed (dep. on the yog thickness).