Vegetable salad recipes

A more enticing way to serve vegetables

Vegetable salad recipes run the gamut from simple raw vegetable recipes with a lemon vinaigrette, to complicated salads with cooked vegetables such as beet salads, parsnip salads, and snow pea or green bean salads.

Vegetable salads offer a great replacement for boring old steamed vegetables. If you’re tired of pulling the bag of corn kernels or green peas out of the freezer, you can quickly throw together a vegetable salad with what’s in your crisper, and toss with a simple vinaigrette.

This recipe for broccoli salad combines fennel, artichoke hearts and pimento peppers with a lemon vinaigrette. You can make it as a plain vegetable salad or throw in some pasta to make a pasta salad meal out of it. Either way it’s delicious.

While we’re on the topic of broccoli, how about a Broccoli walnut salad, which has a unique twist on the walnuts – caramelized with sesame oil, soy sauce, and balsamic vinegar. These candied walnuts are addictive and go great with the broccoli and peppers in this salad.

For something super quick – especially if you already have a good dressing handy – try this simple tomato cucumber salad recipe.

Most kids in North America complain when you feed them vegetables. Raw vegetables go over a little better, but cabbage in any form seems to be a struggle. This Asian chicken cabbage salad is a raw vegetable salad topped with grilled chicken thighs and surprisingly kids gobble it up and ask for more.

Another quick and easy recipe below.

By the way, did you know rhubarb is a vegetable? Enjoy hundreds of free, easy rhubarb recipes with pictures, information on how to grow rhubarb, rhubarb nutritional information and more at Rhubarb-Central.com.

Curried Beet Salad

Ingredients

1 lb beets, fresh if possible
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp red wine or balsamic vinegar (if required)
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup toasted, diced walnuts

Directions

1. Remove any greens from the beets, and rinse clean. Slice within the beet just below the stalk. Place beets in a pot of boiling water.

2. While the beets are cooking, chop the walnuts and toast lightly on a dry frying pan.

3. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and curry powder in a small bowl. Taste, and add the red wine or balsamic vinegar to adjust the acidity as required.

4. Cook the beets until done but still firm. A fork pressed into the beets should encounter some resistance.

5. Drain the beets and immediately immerse in cold water to cool them. Slide off the skins.

6. On a cutting board that you don’t mind turning dark red, slice the beets in half from top to bottom, then slice each half into quarter inch wedges. Add to a salad bowl.

7. Toss the beets with the dressing, sprinkle the walnut pieces on top, and serve warm or cool.