hard vegetable salads

Posted on | April 24, 2007 | 2 Comments

someone asked me, what IS a hard vegetable salad?
a salad with a gun and an attitude?
not so.
it’s a salad based on hard vegetables: carrots, celery, fennel, capsicums, onions.
we’ve been living on these things lately.
a few days on salads certainly make you feel frisky and clear-eyed and sweet-breathed.

firstly, i get some baby rocket and baby spinach leaves. any greens will do….i just enjoy the contrast between the bitey crispy little rocket leaves and the velvety spinach.
wash those little twerps gently and tenderly.
place them in a clean linen cloth to take out most of the water and then into a tightly sealed container and into the fridge.
they will keep for quite a few days like that.

now, chop into rough cubes: carrot, celery, red capsicum. a tomato if you must.
slice some onion (those sweet purple onions do it for me). grate some fennel. thinly slice a couple of garlic cloves.
chop some continental parsley…or basil.
i like a big handful of fresh herbs and not too finely chopped.
throw some red wine vinegar over all that, sea salt, grind some black pepper, plenty of olive oil. or macadamia oil. or avocado oil. or a mixture.
then i like a tin of tuna-in-oil (drained), some olives OR sundried tomatoes OR artichoke hearts…..mix those into your vegetables gently.

and now:
arrange crisped, chilled greens into bowls and top with spoonfuls of the vegetable mix.

we’ve had variations on this:
sub red-wine poached chicken breast for tuna (one between two is a big meal).
add some shaved parmesan
add chunks of cooked kipflers or kumaras. f you add these while warm, they soak up the vinaigrette in a very delicious manner.

and of course, the more colours are in your salad, the better range of nutrients you are getting.

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hi, i'm patti flynn

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