Recently I was thinking about how I haven’t been eating many salads lately. This is mostly due to not having access to my garden goodies this time of year, but it’s also because salads don’t generally appeal to me when it’s 15 degrees F. outside. Well here’s a beautiful, delicious salad that kicks all possible excuses to the curb, at least for me. I could eat this one day in and day out no matter what the calender or thermometer say.
This Chopped Salad is inspired by a new book called The Paleo Chef: Quick, Flavorful Paleo Meals for Eating Well
. As you may know, I am pretty vocal about not following a Paleo (or any other) diet and I know nothing about the author. I recieved this book from the publisher and while I’ll be skipping over the author’s nutritional recommendations, the recipes look really tasty to me; it’s also beautifully photographed and I am a sucker for pretty cookbooks.
I changed up the salad in the book by altering many of the proportions and leaving out the cucumbers, shredded cabbage, chile pepper, shallots, parsley, pumpkin and sunflower seeds because I didn’t have any. I included some chopped Cara Cara orange and raisins to sweeten the salad a bit, as well as basil and some carrot and pistachios for crunch. This recipe makes enough to serve 2 as a starter (or you can eat the whole thing yourself!).
If you forego adding the dressing right away, you can double or even triple this recipe and store the dressing and salad separately for a few days. That way, whenever you’re ready for salad you can just spoon some out and add dressing to taste. Have fun with this recipe. Feel free to use what you have on hand and what’s in season/looking good at the market.
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Recipe for Chopped Salad
Ingredients
for the dressing:
- *1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar or use raw apple cider vinegar or sherry vinegar as the author suggests
- *1/2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard the author has a recipe for fermented mustard in the book
- *2 tablespoons olive oil
for the salad:
- *1 cup chopped red pepper
- *1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
- *1 tomato seeded and diced
- *1/3 cup chopped herbs I used a combination of basil, cilantro, and mint
- *1/2-1 ripe avocado chopped
- *1 Cara Cara orange peeled and chopped
- *1 carrot chopped
- *2 tablespoons chopped scallion or red onion
- *2 tablespoons raisins
- *2 tablespoons pistachios or other nuts/seeds
Instructions
- 1. Make the dressing by combining the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, and olive oil. Whisk thoroughly and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- 2. Make the salad by combining all of the ingredients in a bowl. Add the dressing and toss. Allow to stand for 10 minutes before serving.
