Yena Mgobhozi Summer salads
Summer salads are most welcomed on those hot summer days. They are a light, refreshing, healthy and wholesome meal. Summer salads will help you beat the heat and maintain your summer body that you have worked so hard to get.
I have two summer salad recipes for you to try out at home. If you are looking for hearty, fresh and exciting salads to try out this summer you are definitely at the right place.
The key to any good salad is using fresh ingredients and the right salad dressing. Fresh ingredients add flavour, texture and nutrients to the salad. No one wants to have a wilted and flavourless salad. Whilst the dressing enhances the flavours of the fresh ingredients, without overpowering the salad.
1. Roasted butternut salad
This salad was inspired by a salad that I had in a restaurant, not so long ago. Not knowing exactly how they made their salad, the two ingredients that stood out for me was the roasted butternut and the rosemary. I have taken these two ingredients and incorporated them into my salad.
This salad is super easy and simple to prepare. You can enjoy the roasted butternut salad for lunch, dinner or as a side dish to a meal.
Roasted butternut salad
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 large butternut (peeled and cubed)
2T/ 30ml oil
1 large onion (roughly chopped)
1t fresh rosemary
4T/ 60ml marmalade
Salt and pepper to taste
250g/ 1½ cups/ 750ml whole wheat couscous
1 vegetable stock cube
3T/45ml sunflower seeds
1 lemon
Method
1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Place cubed butternut onto a baking tray, drizzle 1T/15ml of oil over the butternut and season with salt and pepper. Roast the butternut for 20 minutes or until tender. Leave to cool completely. You could do this step the day before assembling the salad.
2. In a medium pot, sauté onion and rosemary with the remaining oil until onion is translucent. Add in marmalade and butternut, stir and season with salt and pepper. Set the butternut mixture aside to slightly cool.
3.Meanwhile prepare couscous according to package instructions, dissolve stock cube in boiling water and pour over the couscous, cover the couscous and leave for it to swell up.
4. Mix couscous, butternut mixture and sunflower seeds together. Before serving, squeeze over fresh lemon juice and garnish with fresh rosemary.
5. This salad is fantastic warm but is even better the next day chilled.
Why not try…
Adding in roasted chickpeas for more flavour and crunch. This would make a great vegan meal.
Adding in Feta cheese, for more flavour and creamy texture. This would make a great vegetarian meal.
Adding shredded roasted chicken for a meaty option.
2. Watermelon salad
The combination of ingredients in this salad might come as a shock, but trust me, this salad is absolutely delicious. The combination of salty and sweet will leave your taste buds dancing out of excitement. I love having this salad for a light dinner meal, but you could enjoy it as a snack, starter or even as a savoury dessert.
Watermelon salad
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 0 minutes
Serves: 2
Ingredients
Salad
¼ medium watermelon (peeled and cubed)
¼ large red onion (thinly sliced)
1 green pepper (deseeded and thinly sliced)
¼ large head of iceberg lettuce (shredded) or ½ large cucumber (cut into quarters)
Handful mint leaves (thinly sliced)
Dressing
2T/30ml balsamic vinegar
2T/ 30ml olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
1. In a large salad bowl, combine all salad ingredients.
2. In a small bowl whisk together all salad dressing ingredients.
3. Drizzle dressing over the salad and toss until evenly coated. Garnish with a few mint leaves before serving. .