This is a salad to enjoy as a light, healthy meal utilising ingredients remaining from a roast or festive meal.
As the name suggests, this is the salad of ‘abundance’…otherwise known as the salad of leftovers!
In our enthusiasm for a happy time we so often over-cater. How to use cold, cooked vegetables can be a dilemma because they do not freeze well. A ‘fry up’, classic British ‘bubble and squeak’, is the usually suggestion. But my recommendation is a lighter meal, a more suitable choice after what may have been over-indulgence, a bright and colourful mix which should appeal to even the most jaded palate.
Be creative – there is no set recipe – and combine the ingredients you have at hand. A careful selection will make this salad suitable for any dietary requirements.
For colour, texture and flavour include:
Diets for which Festive Salad is suitable:
Diabetic, Diary Free, Fodmap, Gluten Free, Low Calorie, Low Fat, Nut Free, Vegetarian and Vegan.
Ingredients
Preparation: 10 mins |Serves: variable
Cooked ingredients
roasted vegetables: potato, pumpkin, carrot, parsnip, celeriac, onions etc
other vegetables: broccoli, brussels sprouts etc
cold red meat, turkey, chicken and/or egg
Uncooked Ingredients
for freshness: tomato, celery, radish, pepper, spring onion, watercress or other greens
for protein: cheese – ricotta for a sweet taste, feta for a salty flavour, a blue or strong cheddar (not Dairy Free)*
for festive colour: pomegranate
for texture: nuts (not Nut Free)*
Dressing
lemon juice or balsamic vinegar
herbs, eg basil, parsley, chives
preserved lemon
cracked black pepper and salt
Method
PREPARE the salad ingredients:
MIX ingredients. (Toss the cooked and cold salad ingredients together or, alternatively, layer the ingredients, eg line the bowl or platter with green leaves, add a layer of roast vegetables, then salad ingredients and then top with cold meat or egg.)
SPRINKLE the salad with chopped herbs, nuts and pomegranate seeds.
POUR a couple of tsp of lemon juice or balsamic immediately before serving.
Serve
– A tasty salad or a complete meal with the addition of meat, eggs, cheese or nuts when suitable for the diet.
Notes
* The suitability of this salad for diets is dependent on your selection: Dairy Free no cheese; Egg Free no egg; Fodmap no broccoli, Brussels sprouts or onion; Low Fat a small proportion of roast vegetables and cheese and select lean meat and chicken; Nut Free no nuts; Vegetarian no red meat, turkey or chicken; Vegan no red meat, turkey, chicken, eggs or cheese.