Eating with the seasons is easy when salad is involved, since so much of it is about knowing how to treat the vegetables in the first place, and often doing less with more, Alice Zaslavsky says.
The Melbourne-based food writer and columnist who grew up in Georgia, an Eastern European country on the boarder with Asia, is a self-called ‘‘vegelante’’, otherwise known as a ‘‘vigorous vegetable lover’’.
‘‘Food should make you feel good. You can win friends with salad and it’s very ready to make friends with you.’’
Her award-winning vegetable bible In Praise of Vegetables has been translated into six languages and her latest book, Salad for Days, shows how to make the most of vegetables.
‘‘We eat with our eyes, and the more colours we can let them feast on, the more appetising the meal.’’
Some combinations just work, like the red and green of summer produce, pinks and paler greens of spring, amber hues of autumn and deeper jewel tones in winter.
‘‘Mother Nature puts those palettes before because they’re the ingredients we need at that time of year - whether we’re healing sunburnt shoulders with the lycopene of olive-oiled tomatoes, supporting our eye health with vitamin A from root vegetables and capsicums or warding off cold season with the vitamin C in deep-green leafies.’’
The more colours people can pack into each meal, the better for them.
‘‘I’ve thought about combinations of colours and flavours that make sense in my Kodachrome brain, but the beauty of these salads is each can stand alone or join the party... and the guest list is up to you.’’
Zaslavsky has included some simple steps to making salads such as using the right salt, grinding peppercorns fresh, the right oils, how to balance a dressing, the need for some sort of onion and how fat is flavour.
She has included a handy dressing reference section divided up to make it easier to find what you want to go with a salad and a quick guide if you have a vegetable and need inspiration.
The book
Images and text from Salad for Days by Alice Zaslavsky, photography by Rochelle Eagle. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.
Silverbeet and broccoli tumble
with herby avocado dressing
Green on green on green is good. Grapes’ tart sweetness with the bitter earthiness of the silverbeet is all brought together with a creamy, zippy avocado tahini (which is totally a tahini guac). It’s very #health without feeling like you’re going without.
You’re only using the silverbeet leaves here, so chop the stalks to sweat with onion for any kind of stew or soup, anywhere you’d use celery (you can also freeze).
If you can’t be bothered slicing with precision, cut the broc into chunks and pulse in a food processor.
Add as much garlic as you want - I like mine garlicky, obviously.
Ingredients
1 broccoli head
1 small fennel bulb, about 200g, fronds reserved for garnish
½ bunch silverbeet (Swiss chard), leaves only
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
300g green grapes, halved
Herby Avocado Dressing
2 spring onions (scallions), green parts only, white parts finely sliced and reserved
½ cup coarsely chopped dill
½ cup coarsely chopped parsley leaves
¼ cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 ripe avocado (a creamier variety like Hass)
1 Tbsp tahini
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp salt flakes
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
Final bits and bobs
2 Tbsp pepitas (pumpkin seeds), toasted
Method
Boil 2 cups (500ml) of water. Trim and peel the broccoli stem, then slice it thinly along with the florets, following the shape of the broccoli. Do the same with the fennel bulb.
Pop both into a heatproof colander and pour the boiling water over the top. Roll the silverbeet leaves up and thinly shred with your sharp knife. Rub the leaves with the olive oil and a pinch of salt flakes to macerate.
To make the dressing, blitz all of the herby avocado dressing ingredients in a food processor to a thin paste. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if needed.
Toss the drained veg, rubbed silverbeet and the grapes together in a serving dish, then drizzle generously with the dressing (feel free to leave any leftovers in a jug on the table) and finish with a sprinkle of pepitas, reserved spring onion whites and fennel fronds.
Yampers (campers jacket yams)
I can’t tell you how great this salad is for kids, and those young at heart - like a school-camp baked potato, made salady.
You could certainly do this with potatoes, but I like the way sweet potato, or yam, brings another level of lovely caramelness and colour.
Using tinned corn is more authentically campy, but if you have fresh cobs, boil for 4 minutes, then shave off the kernels.
Ghanaian chef Selassie Atadika taught me that sweet potato leaves are used like spinach in her neck of the woods, so if that’s yours too, feel free to double down on sweet potato from root to leaf.
Complete the campfire effect with smoked salt if it’s already in your pantry.
If using a big sweet potato or yam, roast it whole (which will take about an hour) or chop it into chunky bits to shorten the cooking time.
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
6-8 small sweet potatoes, about 1kg, washed
100g red cabbage, finely shredded
1 carrot, about 100g, finely shredded
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp salt flakes
Sour cream and chive drizzle
100g sour cream
50g pouring cream
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp finely chopped chives, plus extra for garnish
½ tsp salt flakes
¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
Final bits and bobs
50g baby spinach leaves
80g cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup (200 g) corn kernels
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Method
Pop sweet potatoes on to a lined tray and into a cold oven. Crank the heat to 220°C or 200°C fan forced, then roast them nudey rudey (undressed) for 40 minutes, until they blister, burst and yield to the touch.
Make the sour cream and chive drizzle by whisking the ingredients together, tasting and seasoning with more salt and pepper if needed.
Toss together shredded cabbage, carrot, vinegar and salt, then season to taste with more salt and a generous crack of pepper.
To assemble, lay a bed of baby spinach in the base of a large shallow bowl, then arrange the baked sweet potatoes, still in their jackets, over the top.
Pierce into each with whatever implement is to hand by criss-crossing, then squashing down a little to expose the vibrant orange (or purple!) innards.
Sprinkle the cheddar cheese over the innards while still warm, to let the cheese melt.
Pour half of the sour cream and chive drizzle over the top in broad strokes, then tumble on the cabbage and carrot slaw and the cooked corn.
Finish off with more of the drizzle over the top, then sprinkle with extra chives and drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil.
Crack pepper on and call it a day.
Sticky eggplant, tofu and noodle salad
Sticky, sweet, textural, meaty and just happens to be vegan? Tick, tick, tick, tick!
This bowl’s gloriously glistening with eggplant that’s fried until it yields to silky strips, sponging up the sticky teriyaki sauce.
Speaking of sponges, that’s exactly what tofu puffs are, and they get even juicier in the dressing overnight.
Udon noodles are nifty because they’re slippery and chunky, and you’ll find fresh udon noodles in the chilled section at the shops.
You’ll get the best spring onion curls if you pop them into iced water, but slicing them chunky to fry with the rest of the mix is also an option.
This is delicious cold and can be made a day ahead and brought back to room temperature to serve.
Ingredients
2 eggplants (aubergines), about 800g
2 tsp salt flakes
200g fresh udon noodles
Neutral oil for shallow-frying (I like rice bran or grapeseed)
200 gofu puffs, torn in half
Sticky teriyaki sauce
½ cup (125ml) light soy sauce
½ cup (110g) brown sugar
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tsp finely grated ginger
1 tsp finely grated garlic
1 tsp sesame oil
Final bits and bobs
2 spring onions (scallions), finely sliced on the diagonal and soaked in cold water
2 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
Method
Cut eggplant into 1cm slices lengthways, then into chunky chips about 5cm long, sprinkle with salt and set aside in a colander for 30 minutes.
While you wait for the eggplant to sweat, make the teriyaki sauce. Combine all of the ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
Cook the udon noodles according to packet instructions and toss with a couple of tablespoons of the warm sauce.
Squeeze the eggplant through the colander and pat dry with paper towel.
Heat 1cm of neutral oil in a wok or heavy-based frying pan until shimmering, then cook the eggplant in batches until golden (watch out, it might spit a little) for about 6 minutes, adding more oil if needed.
Once all of the eggplant is cooked, use the residual oil in the pan to give the torn tofu puffs a new lease on life, tossing about for a minute or two to turn slightly more golden.
Transfer most of the frying oil out of the pan into a heatproof bowl, leaving a couple of tablespoons remaining. Crank the heat to medium and, when the oil is shimmering once more, toss the tofu puffs and cooked eggplant back into the pan along with the sauce, sizzling everything together for a minute or so to coat and become glossy.
When ready to serve, arrange the udon on a platter and tumble the eggplant and tofu puffs with the sauce over the noodles.
For the final bedazzle, sprinkle with drained and spun spring onion curls, and toasted sesame seeds.
