An easy guide to EPIC salads » + 3 recipes

oh hey there i feel like salads don't get enough screen time so let's change that i usually feel like salads are this obligatory side dish that we feel like we have to have with our main meal so that we're getting in some more vegetables but i think salads can be so much more exciting than that they unlock a load of different flavors and textures if you know we make a good salad so that's what i wanted to share a little bit of today three delicious salad recipes but also while we make each one i wanted to explore a little bit of my own personal formula and how i make sure i make like an epic salad that impresses every time so let's dive right in let's first start with the formula in creating a delicious salad for me the foundation lies in the trifecta of fats acids and aromatics let's first start with fats so fats help to essentially trap flavor because fat also coats our tongues what this means is that those flavor compounds are in contact with our taste buds for longer when thinking of fats you can think of either oils but also whole food fats like avocados or olives or nuts and seeds i usually like to add a combination of both and then there's acids acids help to enhance flavors because they stimulate our taste buds when thinking of acids you can think of vinegars but also citrus fruits and then there's aromatics so aromatics are just ingredients that help to enhance the flavor and aroma of a dish you can think of garlic onions but also spices and herbs i think when we add these aromatic compounds in combination with acids and fats it just creates an absolute flavor explosion you're gonna see this put into practice in our first recipe that we'll dive into right now and then in the second and third recipe i wanted to share an additional couple tips that i think also helps to elevate any salad for the first recipe we're making a warm pearl couscous salad so we're going to start off with one cup of uncooked pearl couscous or you can use another grain here if you'd like so regular couscous or bulgur or wheat berries whatever you've got and we're just going to cook this according to the package instructions in our case we're cooking these pearls in boiling water for about 10 minutes before we drain it and while that cooks away to a medium pan on medium-high heat we're gonna add two teaspoons of olive oil and to it we're gonna add two cups of cooked chickpeas plus two cups of quartered cherry tomatoes half of a teaspoon of salt and about a quarter of a teaspoon of ground black pepper then we're gonna cook this for about five to seven minutes just giving it a toss every once in a while we want the tomatoes to heat up but we don't want them to start disintegrating while that cooks away in a small jar we're going to make our dressing which is just four ingredients it's super simple so we're gonna add in three tablespoons of olive oil then three tablespoons of white wine vinegar or you could use another vinegar if you'd prefer one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and then a quarter of a teaspoon of paprika powder then we're going to whisk this all together so in the next recipes you're going to see that we're going to be using fat and acid a little bit differently but with this recipe i just wanted to show you how simple it is to incorporate fat in acid which is usually going to be in the dressing you're going to see most of the aromatics are about to come in from the fresh herbs we're about to use when the pearl couscous is cooked and drained we're going to add it to a large bowl together with the cooked chickpea and tomato mixture along with half of a cucumber that we've sliced into half moons and a quarter of a cup of sliced olives either green or black olives are great and then we're going to pour over the dressing i usually like to add about a third of the dressing first and then i toss everything to coat and then the remainder of the dressing you can always serve on the side or add it to the salad later once you've taste tested it and now it's time to add the flavor factor so we're going to top this whole salad with roughly three tablespoons of chopped fresh mint leaves and two tablespoons of chopped parsley plus two tablespoons of chopped fresh basil leaves if you are missing any of these herbs don't worry about it just add the ones that you have and i feel like the combination of these herbs creates a very rich and fresh flavor profile and it's just amplified by the salad dressing so for a bit of crunch we're also going to add some chopped roasted almonds to the top of the salad but roasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds also work right here and then that's pretty much it this is a salad that could easily be enjoyed for lunch or dinner there's grains in the form of the couscous there's protein in there from chickpeas and plenty of veggies of course so it's a totally balanced meal and we did call it a warm couscous salad but you could of course also enjoy it cold for a more refreshing spring or summer salad [Music] for the next recipe we're making this beautiful deconstructed caesar salad so we've talked about the foundations now let's talk about the crunch factor i think this crunch factor is what takes a salad from being good to being memorable and crunch can come from a few different things it can come from using just fresh ingredients like lettuce or cucumbers in itself but i'm always looking for more interesting ways to add crunch like for example using some roasted nuts like you saw in the previous recipe or something a bit more creative like maybe some croutons and what is a caesar salad if not for its croutons so we're going to start this recipe off with a quick homemade crouton recipe just some bread some olive oil you can always add some garlic and loads of spices give it all a toss and then into the oven it goes and that's pretty much it we've shared a recipe in a couple of previous videos so i'm going to link that for you here and the full recipes also in the description box below so while the croutons crispen up we're going to make our salad dressing for this we're going to need about half of a cup of raw cashews ideally we'll want to have let this soak overnight but a shortcut here is you can always just pour some boiling hot water onto it let it sit for 20 minutes to soften and then drain it we're then gonna add these drained cashews to a blender along with a third of a cup of water three and a half tablespoons of nutritional yeast then the zest from a full lemon and then we're also going to squeeze in the juice from a whole lemon we're going to follow this with three cloves of garlic one tablespoon each of olive oil and apple cider vinegar or you could use any other vinegar you'd like two teaspoons of capers one teaspoon each of dijon mustard and soy sauce plus we're gonna add some cracked black pepper then we can pop the lid onto this and blend this on high until we're left with a really smooth and creamy dressing so we've got fat in this dressing that comes from the cashews plus there's a little bit more that comes from the olive oil there's acid from both the cider vinegar but also the lemon juice and then the aromatics come from the garlic and the lemon zest which just totally boosts the flavor of this dressing as for the soy sauce i personally like to just add that because i love the little bit of umami depth that gives the dressing but you could use salt here if you prefer next we're going to make a vegan parmesan and it's so easy it comes together with only four ingredients so to a small food processor we're going to add a quarter of a cup of raw or roasted unsoaked cashews one tablespoon of nutritional yeast and an eighth of a teaspoon each of garlic powder and salt then we're going to blitz this all up until the mixture resembles a coarse sand if you don't have a small food processor you can always mince up the cashews as finely as possible using your knife and then you can throw all the ingredients together in a bowl next we're going to move on to making the salad base for this we're going to need four small pre-washed romaine lettuce heads that we're going to cut in half lengthwise so we're going to be grilling this lettuce and it's really really really important that if you're going to cut it in half and you want to wash the lettuce leaves that you let it completely dry before we then move over to the stove the reason being we don't want the lettuce to steam we just want it to sear on the one side to each of the cut sides we're going to brush on a little bit of olive oil and then we're going to have preheated a griddle first on high heat for a little bit and once the griddle is hot we're going to place the cut sides down on the griddle and let this sear for about 10 to 15 seconds we don't want it on the heat for much longer than that because we don't want these lettuce heads to steam so once we see some light marks on it we can already remove it from the heat and this step is totally 100 optional it just makes the salad look super fun for presentation i find and it gives it a light smoky taste too which is really nice and then now all that's left is the assembly so with the lettuce heads arranged on a platter we're going to drizzle over top some of our salad dressing we're going to add a sprinkle of the cashew parm cheese to the top if you'd like a little bit more heat and more pop of color you can always add some chili flakes as well and then we're going to add on our crunchy croutons too and then this is already ready to enjoy and i've only poured a little bit of dressing on here but realistically i'm pouring way more than that on it because the salad dressing is just like the best part and i think it looks super cute too but you can of course skip the searing step of the lettuce and just rip the romaine lettuce up in a bowl and enjoy it that way too for the final recipe we're making this spinach and blueberry salad that features the most easy and incredible homemade vegan feta you will ever try so the final element in the formula to making an epic salad is the fresh factor so most salads are obviously going to taste best if we can prepare our ingredients close to when we're going to be enjoying it as opposed to prepping it too far in advance we want the veggies to retain you know that refreshing crispness and veggies tend to lose their vigor if they've been sitting around for too long especially if they're sitting in a sauce so feel free to prep certain ingredients ahead of time if you need to but then try to combine everything only at the moment that you know you're going to enjoy it and on the topic of making ingredients ahead of time right now we're going to make the most easy seven ingredient vegan feta that's absolutely delicious and you'll see it's also an awesome way that we're integrating fat acid and aromatics so we're going to start with roughly 160 grams of firm tofu and we're going to let any excess liquid just drain off of it you can very lightly press it too but no need to press it really intensely a little bit of moisture is all right so we're just going to add this straight to a small food processor and then we're also going to add in a quarter of a cup of melted refined coconut oil so for this recipe to work we really need to use coconut oil you can't just use any other vegetable oil but using refined coconut oil is great because you don't get the smell or taste of coconuts and then we're gonna also add in one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar or plain white vinegar we'll also add a teaspoon of nutritional yeast half of a teaspoon each of onion powder and salt and then an eighth of a teaspoon of dried dill then we're gonna blend this all up and then you're gonna need to stop to scrape down the sides every once in a while but we're just gonna continue this until we're left with a really smooth and creamy mixture now we're gonna transfer this to a container and store it in the fridge for a few hours or ideally overnight the longer the mixture can sit in the fridge the more crumbly the texture is going to become so this is a batch of homemade feta i made yesterday just to show you you'll see it solidified a lot and when you try to just spoon some of it up it's going to break apart into these lovely little feta chunks and they taste so so so good so we're gonna add this to our salad in just a little bit but first let's start on making the dressing so to a jar or bowl we're gonna add a quarter of a cup of vegan mayo two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or you could use another vinegar if you'd like two tablespoons as well of agave syrup or you could use maple syrup so we don't always add sweeteners to our salad dressings but it can help sometimes and the tip here is if you find that it tastes really sharp because you've used some kind of vinegar the sweeteners can help to just balance the flavors out a little bit cuts through that sharpness so you could always add less too if you'd like to to start and then taste test it and add a little bit more later but we've made this recipe so i know that's kind of the amount of sweetness i personally like back to making the dressing we're going to add in a tablespoon of vegetable oil and one tablespoon of optional poppy seeds half of a teaspoon of dijon mustard and then a quarter of a teaspoon each of onion powder and salt now all that's left is just to whisk this all together or of course you could also pop the lid onto the jar and then just shake it up to assemble the salad we're going to add about six cups of fresh spinach to a large bowl and then we're going to add a heaping cup of fresh blueberries to the top of that plus a sprinkle of thinly sliced shallot or you could use red onion here and now we can pour about three quarters of our dressing over top of the greens and toss it to goat for the crunch factor we're adding half of a cup of roasted chopped walnuts and then comes the best part we can remove our homemade feta from the fridge and scoop off pieces that we can then decorate the salad with this recipe is a great example of our final tip in terms of keeping things fresh because it is a salad that's best enjoyed when all of the ingredients have just been combined it ensures that the walnuts stay crunchy that the feta stays firm and that the spinach and fruits are the freshest they can be so i hope you enjoyed these recipes that we made today and also learning a little bit about the formula i personally like to use when i'm building a salad so to recap i always try to consider the trifecta of fat acid and aromatics try to include a crunch factor if you can and try to make sure your ingredients are as fresh as possible if you're looking for the full breakdown to these recipes i'll leave the links for you in the description box below and thanks for hanging with us in the kitchen today really appreciate it pick up limes signing off and we'll see you in the next video [Music] if you find that it's quite intense sweeteners can help damn it no again alex no [Music] no

Channel: Pick Up Limes

Views: 1,066,880

Keywords: salads, best salads, vegan caesar salad, vegan salads, vegan healthy, vegan lunch, vegan dinner, healthy summer meals, healthy summer salads, what I eat in a day, what I eat in a week, potluck recipes, meal prep recipes, vegan cheese recipes, meal prep, vegan meal prep, weight loss recipes, the best caesar salad, vegan recipes, easy vegan recipes, make ahead vegan, high protein vegan, vegan summer meals, vegetarian salads, salad dressings, healthy recipes, vegan, salad

Id: PMjreZH1bzU

Length: 12min 31sec (751 seconds)

Published: Thu May 27 2021