I’m still on the quest to follow Joy Bauer’s 90 |10 food philosophy. By that, she means eating healthy foods 90% of the time and splurge on treats the remaining 10% of the time. Today I paired a very healthy portion of seasonal vegetable salad with a much more reasonable serving of succulent roasted a leg of lamb, which I admit is probably not the healthiest dish (look out for that recipe soon – probably when I feel less guilty!). The salad consists of zucchini, white asparagus and carrots cut into long, thin linguine shape strips. The trio is quickly sautéed with coriander and ginger and finished with lemon juice. The result is a crunchy, naturally sweet, warm salad with a little fresh zing from the lemon.
What I like most about this dish is how vibrant the colors are. Over-cooking veggies depletes their nutrients and can result in less attractive hues, so make sure you give the veggies just enough time to soften and you’ll have a beautiful dish.
1. Info for Warm Vegetable Salad Recipe
- Cook Time: unavailable
- Total Time: unavailable
- Servings: 6
- Calories: unavailable
2. Ingredients for Warm Vegetable Salad Recipe
- 8 ounces thin, young white asparagus
- 3 zucchini
- 3 long, thin carrots
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons slightly toasted coriander seeds
- 1 (1-inch) chunk grated fresh ginger
- juice of 2 small lemons, freshly squeezed
- 1-½ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon white pepper, freshly cracked using a mortar and pestle
- 1 tablespoon fresh mint, coarsely chopped
- 2 tablespoons cilantro, coarsely chopped
3. Directions:
- Prepping the white asparagus: Trim about 1 inch from the root of the asparagus if necessary (depending on how young they are). Using a vegetable peeler (see tips), peel the asparagus, then cut them into long, thin strips. Be very gentle, white asparagus are very delicate and can break easily. Combine them all in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle with salt (salt draws out moisture) and 1 teaspoon sugar.; that way they won’t taste bitter. Toss well. Let sit for about 5-10 minutes. Drain using a fine mesh colander. Discard the liquid. Pat dry with paper towels.
- Prepping the zucchini and carrots: Trim the carrots on both ends. Cut the carrots, lengthwise into thin long strips. If you use the Messermeister tool (see tips), you’ll get long threads of carrot. Sprinkle with salt. Cut into about 7-inch strips. Repeat the same procedure with the zucchini. Pat dry with paper towels before cooking.
- Freshly grated ginger: Clean the ginger root and remove any dirt. Peel the ginger root with a paring knife (or the edge of a spoon). Grate the ginger with a fine mesh Microplane. Gather about 2 teaspoons of grated ginger root.
- Prepping the coriander: Reserve ½ teaspoon of coriander seeds for garnish. In a mortar and pestle, grind the remaining seeds into a fine, fragrant powder.
- Make a quick olive oil (with the remaining oil) and lemon juice salad dressing by whisking the two ingredients until you get an emulsion. Add the reserved coriander seeds. Season with salt and white pepper.
- In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the shallots and cook until fragrant and golden. Add the ground coriander and ginger, carrots and zucchini. Toss well using tongs for about 2 minutes. Add the asparagus. Cook for another minute. Drizzle the salad dressing over the warm vegetables. Add mint and cilantro.
- Bon appétit!
