For this week in the Solo Meal and since the heat is reaching its peak, I will be sharing my favorite salad recipe for this summer, my Power salad.
Growing up salad was always a secondary meal, I guess it is in the culture. Don’t get me wrong it was always there but only to complement a dish. Tabbouleh was always there next to kibbeh, Fattoush was also always thereو but it is that salad that goes with so many dishes. But to have these as lunch itself was abnormal.
I believe it was not till recently that I actually got over that and started having salad as a meal. And with all the heat what is better than some greens, vegetables and your favorite dressing.
The beauty of salads..
There are so many besides it being healthy. I think the main reason I am obsessed with salads now, is because with salads the sky is the limit. From the leaves, to vegetables and then dressings. I literally can add whatever I feel like and BOM you have your favorite salad ready.
For the past week, I have been packing my lunch with me and most of these days I ended up doing this one, I add all my favorite ingredients in it. And here I have to confess that even though this section is for meals that you enjoy solely by yourself, but I have been sharing some of it with some colleagues, I guess that is the part of me that is hard to change. However, I only share it with the ones I like 🙂
What are your favorite ingredients in a salad?
So, in order to make this power salad, you will need Kale, baby spinach, rocket, avocado, cherry tomato, blueberries, walnuts, eggs, and blue cheese. A combination of all these mouthwatering ingredients and would not only be a delicious meal, but really gives me the energy to run the whole day as well.
Let’s toss the salad:
Dressing in 2 minutes. You might think that chefs like complicated methods and ways to do stuff, not really at least not in this one. This is my most favorite dressing for this summer, not only super good and goes well with all the ingredients but also, it is literally made in less than 2 minutes.
In a small tupperware or a mason jar place the yogurt, tomato paste, vinegar, mustard, olive oil, and salt. Close your container and shake for 20 seconds, and you end up with my own intake on a French dressing. The dressing would be a bit thick but that is the way I prefer it to be as it doesn’t get the greens soggy and wet.
For the salad:
Place your greens and top them with your vegetables, nuts, and cheese. Drizzle with the dressing and you are good to go.
Pack it for work:
To pack this for lunch break, I prewash and dry well the leaves so they won’t wilt. Then top the greens with everything. Take the dressing in the jar and just toss it before you eat it.
Chefs Notes:
- You can use any greens you like or any available ones, but these are my favorite, as kale makes me feel full and I love the spicy peppery flavor of the rocket.
- I like to get all the vegetables fresh that is why sometimes I would end up not finding any type or another from the leaves or the vegetables.
- You can replace the blueberries by strawberries but again I find the blueberries less sweet and pairs better with the rest of the ingredients.
- To make a perfect boiled egg. In a pot bring water to boil, carefully submerge a room temperature egg in the water and leave it for 10 min for a hard boil and 6 for a runny yolk.
- For boiling the egg don’t follow any myth and don’t add anything to the water. The only factor for the egg to crack is temperature shock and thickness of the shell. In winter you will find that more eggs would crack in water.
- For blue cheese, I would use one of my two favorites, either Danish blue or Fourme D’ambert.
Power Salad
Ingredients
Dressing
- 80 grams yogurt
- 18 grams tomato paste 2 tsp
- 6 grams mustard 1 tsp
- 10 grams vinegar, apple cider 2 tsp
- 30 grams olive oil 2 tbsp
- 2 grams salt 1/4 tsp
Salad
- 30 grams rocket
- 30 grams baby spinach
- 30 grams kale
- 1 pc egg
- 4 pcs cherry tomatoes
- 20 grams walnuts +
- 20 grams Blueberries
- 30 grams Blue cheese Danish blue
- 1/2 pcs Avocado
Instructions
Dressing
- Place all the ingredients in a Tupperware or jar and shake till thick and homogenous for 20 seconds.
Salad
- Pre-wash all the green leaves, and dry using salad dryer.
- Place the greens on the plate.
- Top the leaves with all your ingredients.
- Drizzle the dressing on top.
