Perhaps you are feeling, as I am, just a little overfed after the holiday season. My personal chocolate:vegetable ratio has been way off for a few weeks and I needed a little correction. This salad is an excellent and delicious way to get an entire day's vegetable servings in one meal. So efficient! Any new year's resolutions you may have about eating mountains of vegetables will be so easy to follow now.
The abundance of bright, sunny herbs in this salad has been helping to combat my feelings of cold weather grumpiness. It's the opposite of standard winter fare, cozy warm, soups and stews and hearty, heavy dishes. Those are good too, but sometimes I want another kind of comforting winter meal, one that feels light and bright and reminds me that winter cannot actually last forever. It feels really luxurious to use herbs this way, as generously as a vegetable rather than as a sparse topping.
Adding some roasted salmon or falafel makes it into a very filling meal. You can swap or add herbs; cilantro and basil would be great in this too.
big herb salad:
serves two as a main meal, more as a side
- 1 cup shredded purple cabbage
- 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup pea shoots
- 1/4 cup kalamata olives, roughly chopped
- 1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 cup fresh mint, chopped
- 1 cup fresh dill, chopped
- a few slices of feta cheese
Combine all ingredients and dress with yogurt dressing. Salt and pepper to taste.
spicy yogurt dressing:
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- juice from one lemon
- 3 tbs olive oil
- 2 tsp dried dill
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp crushed chile flakes
- 1 tsp salt
Blend all ingredients together and drizzle over salad.
Photos: Tyrel Hiebert