The following post was written by my mom, WWW. Thanks, mom!
A few years ago after I visited my
octogenarian naturalist aunt and uncle in Ashland, Oregon, I started seeing salads as more than a side dish. Watching my Aunt Dot create her daily salad broke me out of my leafy green salad mentality and catapulted me into the world of Salad as Center Stage. I’m not talking about main course salads with rice or quinoa, pasta or bulgur wheat. I am talking about making a salad that is so full of a rainbow of hearty raw vegetables that you don’t really need a whole lot more to be satisfied for dinner.
Larry and I often have a huge chopped salad with a slice of quiche or some quinoa on the side. This makes a really easy, healthy and filling dinner. You can make the salad before serving or let it marinate for awhile in the refrigerator.
Years ago, I bought a large wooden bowl with wide sides at Costco and I love using this bowl for my chopped salad. It’s easy to toss without losing any ingredients over the edge.
Aunt Dot’s chopped salad
1. Take a smashed garlic clove and rub it all over the inside of your salad bowl.
2. Pour into the salad bowl a tablespoon of red wine or apple cider vinegar, a few splashes of Braggs Amino Acids or tamari sauce and 2-3 tablespoons of oil. (I like a 1:2 ratio of vinegar:oil for this type of salad, but you can experiment and find out what you like best).
3. Take a fork and whisk the oil and vinegar together.
4. Chop all of your vegetables into small dice and add to the salad bowl. I like to use any combination of the following: carrots, turnips, kohlrabi, radishes, snap peas, celery cucumbers (without the seeds) fresh cilantro or dill, and chopped red or green cabbage or other heavy greens.
(If you use kale, rub olive oil into the leaves on both sides, let marinate for a few hours, and then chop).
chopped veggies...
+ cabbage...
+ tatsoi and mizuna
5. Mix well. Add pepper and some salt to taste. If you need more oil and vinegar, add and mix some more. Add a generous amount (1/4-1/3 cup) of raw or toasted sunflower seeds and mix some more. Either serve or refrigerate for later. (If you make ahead of time, add the seeds just before serving).
This salad keeps well and is delicious the next day since there are no watery items in it such as and tomatoes. I love to make extra and have it the following day for lunch with a piece toast smothered in hummus.
The only thing that really matters with this salad is to pick vegetables with a low water content and don’t use anything that can get crushed (no fruit or delicate lettuces). And stay on the savory side.
