Summer Vegetable Salad

Wilbur was talking in his sleep last night and I am sure I heard him say “more salads! More salads for dinner!!”. 

I am happy to oblige with this easy, veggie-filled bowl of goodness that can be served cool or just warm.  Like so many of my recipes, it utilises lots of bits and pieces, the odd veggie in the crisper with brown rice and chickpeas!  I make enough for lunch the next day as well.  Feel free to substitute your veggie favourites adding more or less to your preferences. Simple.  Enjoy!

Summer Vegetable Salad by Feed Your Inner Cook

Serves 5  (but add more/less to suit your needs) Great as lunch the next day too

Ingredients  (vary to suit you – options, zucchini , basil, parsley peas etc)

1 cup cooked brown rice (substitute pearl barley, white rice etc)

½ Jap Pumpkin – diced bitesize

Splash Australian Olive Oil

2 red onions – sliced

2 cloves garlic – crushed

½ small cauliflower – cut into florets

Handful green beans – cut in half

Handful baby kale leaves – roughly chopped

2 shallots – sliced

Shake of dried chilli flakes

Few stalks of parsley leaves – finely chopped

Big handful baby spinach leaves

½ lettuce – roughly torn up

1 tin chickpeas – rinsed and drained

2 stalks celery – sliced

100 -200 gram Fetta cubed.

Few black olives

Salt and Pepper to taste

big handful fresh mint leaves – roughly shredded

Splash Australian good Extra Virgin Olive Oil to taste

½ small lemon – juice and zest (may not need all the juice)

2 tablespoons pine-nuts – lightly toasted in frypan before starting cooking meal (or pistachios)

Method

In a large wide frypan

Lightly toast the pine nuts and reserve for garnish

Heat a splash of oil in the pan and soften the onion

Add the garlic, cubed pumpkin and cauliflower.  Cook until just begins to soften. Pumpkin should be soft to eat but the remaining veggies need a little crunch texture.

Add the beans, kale, shallots, parsley and chilli – stir through until beans cooked but still crunchy

Stir through the cooked rice and chickpeas.

Remove from heat

When still warm but not hot, add the baby spinach and sliced celery

Mix the cubed fetta and olives into the salad

Taste and add Pepper. Maybe salt, though fetta and olives will be salty already

Toss the lettuce and mint through.  Reserve some mint leaves for garnish

Drizzle with a little good Olive oil, some of the lemon juice and the zest.

Taste and add more lemon juice, oil or pepper if needed.

Serve on a platter and sprinkle over the toasted nuts and reserved mint leaves.

Enjoy!  Colleen