Blanched Salad

Blanched Salad

It's always great for me to learn new ways of cooking up vegetables.

This technique of blanching a variety of vegetables to create a salad is probably not new to many people.

But I don't normally blanch my vegetables and then combine them into a salad.

My salads usually include raw vegetables, so this was intriguing.

The technique instructions come from The Great Life book.

You can use just about any kind of vegetable, but the author recommends using a leafy green, a round vegetable, and a root vegetable, or a combination of these types of vegetables.

I had to go back in the chapter to remember which was which!  (See below)

You fill a pot half-way with water and add a pinch of sea salt.  Then you bring it to a boil.

You blanch the vegetables by placing them into the boiling water just until their color brightens, about 2 minutes.  Then you remove them with a slotted spoon, placing them on a serving dish, covered until all the vegetables are done.

You start with the lightest in color and mildest in flavor.

We made our salad with cauliflower, Napa cabbage, and carrots, and blanched the veggies in that order.

And when we were done, we had a great salad that was tasty, but was better with a little lemon juice, a spritz of olive oil, and a little more Kosher salt. 

David and I both liked this cooking technique as a nice change to raw vegetable salad.

And it's so easy to use whatever you have in the fridge!

Green Leafy Veggies:  bok choy, carrot tops, Chinese cabbage, collard greens, Daikon greens, dandelion greens, kale, leeks, mustard greens, parsley, scallions, turnip greens, watercress

Round Veggies:  acorn squash, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, buttercup squash, butternut squash, cabbage, cauliflower, onion, pumpkin, rutabaga, turnips, Shiitake mushrooms

Root Veggies:  burdock, carrots, Daikon radish, dandelion roots, jinenjo, lotus root, parsnips, radishes

Double click to print as a 5x7 recipe card.

Enjoy!