This is a really flexible recipe that you can adapt to what you have in the fridge or garden. We make a big batch to eat during the week.
Ingredients
Potatoes/beetroot/butternut squash
Garlic
Fresh herbs (eg dill, mint, oregano, chives, rosemary, parsley), chopped
Strong tasting leaves (eg sorrel, rocket), chopped
Spring onions, sliced
Fresh peas/broad beans/sprouted mung beans
Hard boiled eggs, roughly chopped (optional)
Seeds (eg sunflower, pumpkin)
Vinaigrette
Oil of your choice (we use extra virgin olive oil)
Balsamic vinegar
Grain mustard
Dried tarragon (optional)
Red wine
Mayonnaise
Oil to vinegar ratio approx 10:1 with a tablespoon of mayonnaise and mustard. Shake well. Taste. If too sharp you can add a little runny honey.
Method
Roast veg
Finely cube your potato/beetroot/butternut squash into chunks a bit smaller than 1cm cube. This helps the cook quicker and also mix well with the other ingredients in the salad. Toss in oil and roast in oven or air fryer until golden and tender. Beetroot takes a little longer so put that in first.
With potatos you can also cook them quickly in the microwave by cubing them and putting them in a microwavable bowl with no water, just a lid. The potatos actually give off water and only take 3 – 4 mins to cook.
Roast garlic
If you want to add roast garlic to the salad, peel the outside skin off a head of garlic. Snap out the cloves. Cut the root end off the cloves but leave the skin on. Lightly toss in oil (this is optional but keeps them moist during cooking). Roast with the veg for approx 10 mins until the clove is soft and golden. You can then squeeze the cooked garlic out of the clove skins just like garlic puree!
Pulses/Legumes
If you grow broad beans you can use them raw or slightly blanched in a small amount of water (in a saucepan on the hob or in the microwave). Peas are lovely raw when available. We also use frozen peas and broad beans (you just need to de-frost them, you don’t need to cook them). Or you can very easily sprout mung beans by soaking them in water over night. Then draining and rinsing for a couple of days.
Eggs/seeds
This is a tasty way to include protein in the salad so it’s full meal. (The seeds combined with the pulses give you complete protein – see more on this here.)
Mix all your ingredients in a bowl. Drizzle with vinagrette and enjoy!
We make big salads to last us the week. With lettuce-based salads we only add the vinaigrette on the plate when we serve so the rest of it stays crisp in the salad bowl. But this salad is more robust so you can dress with vinaigrette straight away and it will be fine in the fridge for a few days.
