If you are anything like me, you love a good salad in summer and then when the cooler weather hits, all of a sudden you don’t feel like a cold salad on your plate. I mean, I truly LOVE salads. What’s not to love? – super quick, full of nutrition, colourful, crunchy and tasty with so many variables BUT this year the cooler weather has gotten me in its clutches and for some reason I just don’t feel like fixing a salad. I bought all the ingredients earlier in the week with great intentions but it got to last night and I was looking for other options. At the same time, I also get a bit tired of steamed or stir fried vegetables. There are only so many nights that steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrot can look appealing before the thought of them makes me feel a bit bland. So last night (when we were supposed to be having a lovely summery salad) I decided to make a “Winter Salad” instead. There are a lot of salad ingredients that can be served warm and I put it to the test. What ended up on our plate was delicious and full of all those fabulous nutrients that our body craves. Use this as a recipe or just an idea, it’s full of so much potential
Ingredients:
Drizzle of Olive Oil
1 punnet of Cherry Tomatoes, chopped in half
1 medium Zucchini, sliced length wise and then chopped
1 Onion, diced
100g Mushrooms, sliced
1 Garlic Clove, chopped finely
2 handfuls of Baby Spinach or Basil
Method:
Place a small drizzle of olive oil into a frypan and heat.
Put the zucchini into the fry pan and let it fry for a couple of minutes on medium heat.
Add all the other ingredients to the pan and give them the occasional stir until the zucchini is cooked through but not too soft.
Place a handful of baby spinach/basil onto each plate and pile the vegetable mix on top, letting it mix into the salad leaves.
You can eat as is or try a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice on top. There are so many olive oil based salad dressings that would work well here so give it a try and add your own spin to it.
This really lifted our salmon and corn frittata to a new level, gave us a break from winter vegetables and it was ready in about the same time as it would take to make a summer salad.
