Salads were first enjoyed by ancient Romans and Greeks. Although they did not use the word "salad," they enjoyed a variety of dishes with raw vegetables dressed with vinegar, oil, and herbs. Salads like this one are easy to prepare and come loaded with vitamins. A nice side dish to compliment the upcoming Christmas turkey or ham dinner. This recipe is adapted from New Zealand magazine, Dish. Click here for more on the history of salads.Serves 6-8
600g green beans
500g asparagus
200g sugar snaps
2 handfuls baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
2 roasted red bell peppers, peeled and sliced
Dressing
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 shallot, finely chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
1 garlic clove, minced
Blanch the beans, asparagus and sugar snaps. Refresh in iced water then drain and pat dry. For the dressing, combine vinegar and shallots in a bowl and leave for 15 minutes. Whisk in the remaining ingredients and season to taste.
To serve, combine the beans, asparagus, sugar snaps and spinach leaves in a large bowl. Toss with the dressing then add the pine nuts, bell peppers and toss again.
The Culinary Chase's Note: Leaving the shallots in the vinegar will help soften the shallot and give the shallots a sweeter taste.
4 comments:
Sounds wonderful. I'm such a nut for salads!
I love the colors...perfect for Christmas!
But for me, only do-able in summer...it's marked for next summer! Vegetables salads are so good when everything is fresh!
Thanks Kalyn & Katie! A good dish if you need to take something to a friend's home. Cheers! Heather
This looks like a great accompaniment to so many dish! The pine nuts sealed the deal for me!
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