The New Green Salad PDF Print E-mail
Written by Dalene Crafford   
(from the Good Food Diet)
 
If the thought of ordering a green salad in a restaurant does not excite you, it may be because you have faced one too many bowls of limp lettuce leaves drenched in a boring vinaigrette, dollied up with a few cucumber slices. If this is true, you are the perfect candidate to try out The New Green Salad: temptingly fresh and filling, bursting with fibre, minerals and vitamins, and drizzled with a low-kilojoule Lemon and Garlic Yoghurt Dressing.  
Serve The New Green Salad as a separate course or a light meal. Only two rules apply:
  1. Include any fruit or vegetable as long as it is green.
  2. Eat as much as you like.
The New Green Salad is:
  • heart-friendly
  • diabetic-friendly
  • vegetarian-friendly
  • high in fibre
  • wheat-free
  • gluten-free
  • egg-free
How to make The New Green Salad:
  • a handful of rocket leaves (do not go overboard with the leaves)
  • 1 x 400 g punnet of baby marrows, diagonally sliced and fried in a little olive oil, seasoned with salt and black pepper
  • a handful of sugarsnap or mangetout peas (Pour boiling water over them and leave for 5 minutes. Rinse well under cold water and leave in a bowl of cold water until ready to use.)
  • a bunch of seedless green grapes
  • a handful of thin asparagus, lightly cooked and cooled in cold water
  • a handful (about 50 g) of whole almonds, cut in half lengthwise
Step 1: Arrange rocket leaves on a salad platter. Top with baby marrows, followed by sugarsnap peas, grapes and asparagus.
Step 2: Sprinkle with almonds.
Step 3: Drizzle with Lemon and Garlic Yoghurt Dressing (see below) or serve dressing on the side.

(Serves 4)

Lemon and Garlic Yoghurt Dressing:
  • 125 ml (½ cup) low-fat plain yoghurt
  • 10 ml (2 tsp) finely grated lemon rind
  • 5 ml (1 tsp) freshly crushed garlic
  • 5 ml (1 tsp) olive oil
  • 5 ml (1 tsp) lemon juice
  • 10 ml (2 tsp) water (or a little more, depending on thickness of yoghurt – brands differ)
  • salt and milled black pepper to taste
Step 1: Combine all the ingredients. Keep in the fridge.

Dream up your own green combo:
 
Use any green fruit or vegetables in season. Take your pick from the recipe ingredients above as well as the list below and make up your own New Green Salad combo. I always include one or more cooked green vegetables to add substance to the salad.
  • any salad greens such as watercress, lettuce, baby spinach leaves and rocket
  • broccoli, lightly cooked
  • avocado wedges
  • green pepper, thinly sliced
  • thin green beans, fried in a little olive oil, seasoned with salt and white pepper
  • green cabbage, thinly shredded
  • cucumber, sliced
  • celery, chopped (not too much, it can be overpowering)
  • green skinned apple, cut into thin wedges
  • green melon, cut into thin wedges
When you've made The New Green Salad, tell me about the Wow's! you got.
(Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )
 
Peas in a pod: mangetout peas or sugarsnap peas?
 
Want it all? With edible-podded peas you can certainly have it all!
 
The English pea (the common garden pea) has a fibrous pod that needs to be removed before cooking. But certain other varieties can be eaten pod and all. The best known ones are mangetout and sugarsnap peas.
 
The French word mangetout (pronounced mawnzh-TOO) literally means “eat all” or “eat everything”. Mange equals eat and tout means all or everything. Peas and pod are both edible.
 
The mangetout pea has a flat, thin and tender pod. These peas are immature – they are picked at about 68 days, before the peas swell up and fill the pod. Mangetout peas feature prominently in Chinese cooking, and are often used in stir-fries. They are also called snow peas, possibly due to the white reflection on the pod, or because they grow at the end of winter, just before spring.
 
The sugarsnap pea is rounded and fuller in shape, with a very crisp pod, hence the use of the “snap” word. It lives up to its name in more ways than one – it is deliciously sweet and succulent. It is more developed than the mangetout pea and takes about 85 days to reach harvest.
 
Technically the sugarsnap pea is also a mangetout pea, because it is entirely edible. Peas, however, don’t own the monopoly on the mangetout term. In France mangetout also applies to young French green beans.
 
Dalene Crafford is a recipe developer, cookery teambuild presenter, food stylist, and lover of (good) food and wine. To find out more about the Good Food Diet, contact Dalene at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or on 021 913 4457 or 082 562 9787, or visit Dalene’s page at www.conca.co.za.