There’s nothing worse than cranking up the oven and cooking a piping hot meal in the height of summer.
Enter the summer salad – our cold and nutritious saviour, ready to plate up with a quick chop and garnish.
As kids, our parents served classic ‘picky bits’ including sliced meat, carrot sticks, tomatoes and maybe a cheeky pork pie if we were lucky!
These days we need a bit more pizazz on our plates to stop us getting bored. Thankfully OK!’s food guru Victoria Gray has whipped up a few quick and easy ideas to get our taste buds tingling…
Prawn cocktail
Ingredients:
1 Little Gem lettuce, trimmed
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 ½ tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp creamed horseradish
Juice of half a lemon
Sea salt and freshly milled pepper
200g cooked Atlantic prawns
1 ripe avocado, stone removed
Paprika, for dusting
Lemon wedges, to garnish (optional)
Break up the lettuce into individual leaves and divide evenly between two glass bowls.
Mix the mayonnaise, tomato ketchup and horseradish together into a smooth sauce.
Add the lemon juice to the sauce and season to taste with sea salt and freshly milled pepper, then spoon over the prawns and mix to coat.
Slice the avocado into bite-size slices and divide them between the bowls.
Spoon the dressed prawns over the lettuce and avocado and sprinkle with a pinch of paprika to finish. Garnish with a lemon wedge. Serve immediately.
Pear, walnut and blue cheese salad
Ingredients:
80g watercress
2 ripe pears, core removed, skin on
Juice of half a lemon
75g blue cheese
50g walnuts, broken into small pieces
For the dressing:
½ tbsp honey
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
½ tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Edible flowers, to decorate (optional)
Add the watercress to a platter or salad bowl.
Slice the pears into wedges. Squeeze over the lemon juice.
Crumble the blue cheese into pieces and sprinkle over the pears and watercress. Add the walnuts.
Whisk the dressing ingredients together, and drizzle over the salad.
Decorate with edible flowers if using.
Rainbow salad with crunchy peanut dressing
Ingredients:
200g noodles
¼ red cabbage, finely shredded
2 large carrots, cut into ribbons
1 red pepper, finely sliced
Handful of spinach
Small handful of coriander, to garnish
Squeeze of lime juice
For the dressing:
3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sriracha
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp garlic, crushed
1 tsp ginger, finely chopped
Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.
Add the noodles to a large bowl with the cabbage, carrots, pepper and spinach.
Mix all of the ingredients for the dressing together in a small bowl. Pour over the dressing and toss to combine and coat all the vegetables and noodles.
Garnish with the coriander and a squeeze of lime and serve.
Moroccan mixed grains with pomegranate
Ingredients:
100g mixed salad leaves
200g rice and mixed grains
½ red onion, finely sliced
100g cherry tomatoes, sliced
2 tbsp raisins
100g chickpeas, cooked and drained
50g pomegranate seeds
4 mint leaves, finely chopped
Lemon wedges to garnish (optional)
For the dressing:
2 tsp harissa paste
2 tsp pomegranate molasses
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
Add the salad leaves to a platter or salad bowl.
Cook the rice and mixed grains according to the packet instructions.
Add the cooked rice and mixed grains to a large bowl, with the onion, cherry tomatoes, raisins and chickpeas. Mix together.
Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the rice and mixed grains. Mix well to combine.
Spoon the mixture over the salad leaves and scatter with the pomegranate seeds and mint leaves. Serve with a wedge of lemon, if using.
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