Cilantro-Lime Yogurt Dressing

Summer means it’s time to start switching out soups for salads and bring the freshness back to my desk lunches. For me, the perfect lunch salad has the following components:

• Minimum 1 roasted vegetable

• Minimum 1 raw vegetable

• A green vegetable base

• A nutty grain

• A protein

• A zingy dressing

This dressing is my go-to lunch dressing - extra zingy and a limited amount of oil. If you are cilantro adverse you could swap in parsley or basil, and switch the lime for lemon.

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Cilantro-Line Yogurt Dressing

5 mins

Ingredients:

1/3 cup fresh cilantro, including stems

1/3 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt (or 2%)

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 limes juiced (roughly 1/4 cup lime juice)

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Method:

1. Put all ingredients into a food processor* and whiz until emulsified and smooth.

2. Chill until ready to serve!

*If you do not have a food processor, you could use a blender. Depending on the size of your blender you may need to double the recipe for the blades to pick up the ingredients.

For the salad above, here is what I prepared:

• Roasted brussels sprouts (20 mins at 400F, tossed with some olive oil, salt and pepper and red pepper flakes)

• Halfed cherry tomatoes

• Spinach

• Wheat berries (from Flourist - 4 cups water, 1 cup wheat berries, boiled for 45 mins)

• 6 minute egg (bring water to a boil, turn down to a simmer, place in eggs and cook for 6 mins. Place into a ice water bath).

• Cilantro-Lime Yogurt Dressing

Pantry Quinoa Pilaf

Quinoa is one of my favourite grains but let’s be frank here - sometimes it tastes like dirt. Most of the time that is because people miss the critical step of rinsing their quinoa before cooking (don’t skip this!) but also because it can have a pretty bitter flavour to it if not spiced up a bit. Below is my favourite combination of ingredients to add to quinoa, with lots of swap options dependent on what you find in your pantry. The perfect side with any protein, it’s time to add some pizzazz to your quinoa!

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Pantry Quinoa Pilaf

20 mins

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

¼ cup lemon juice

(swap: 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar + 1 tsp maple syrup)

1 tbsp olive oil

¼ red onion, diced

(swap: shallot, green onion)

¼ cup sundried tomatoes in oil, diced

¼ cup dry roasted almonds (unsalted), roughly chopped

(swap: walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds)

1 cup parsley, chopped

(swap: cilantro, basil, mint)

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Cook your quinoa according to package instructions, don’t forget to rinse the quinoa first!

2. Meanwhile, combine the lemon juice, olive oil in a large bowl, and whisk together with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Once quinoa is cooked and cooled slightly, add into the bowl and toss to coat in lemon vinaigrette.

4. Add in your onion, sun dried tomatoes, chopped almonds, red pepper flakes and parsley. Toss to combine (I prefer to use a fork to keep it fluffy).

5. Serve warm or at room temperature. Or store in the fridge until ready to serve!

Go-To Winter Side Salad

6 simple ingredients

One of the first bloggers I followed on Instagram was Dulanotes - I loved her simple approach to truly yummy food. Back in 2016, she posted this recipe for Pork Scalloppine with Fennel Salsa Verde. Fennel is one of my favourite vegetables - tastes amazing raw with lemon juice and some salt n pepper, but also cooks into a buttery texture similar to cooked cabbage when braised.

I’ve taken Dulanote’s fennel salsa verde recipe and adjusted it over the years to make what I call the best winter side salad around. Winter meals tend to be heavier, especially when entertaining - braised meats, meat wrapped in pastry, etc. The brightness, acidity and crunch of this salad will balance the richest of tourtieres, beef wellingtons, pork ragu pastas and so on. A family favourite, always requested when I go home for the holidays, it also holds up well in the fridge for leftovers thanks to the kale base (albeit a little wetter than when first served).

Make it extra festive: add pomegranate seeds

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go-to winter side salad

Yields 4-6 servings

15 mins to prepare

Ingredients:

1 small fennel bulb, plus the fronds

¼ cup of lemon juice (typically juice of 1 lemon)

1 tbsp of capers

1 tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil

2 shallots, finely diced

1 head of kale

Kosher salt

Ground pepper

Method:

1. Dice the fennel bulb, yielding about ½ cup of fennel and add to a large mixing bowl. Tear off the fronds from the stems, and roughly chop before adding to the bowl.

2. Roughly chop up the capers to make them smaller bites, and add to the large bowl - it’s ok if some of the brine comes with it

3. Add your diced shallots, lemon juice, olive oil to the bowl, season with salt and pepper - give it all a good stir to emulsify the oil into the lemon juice

4. Remove the kale leaves from the stems, rinse, and chiffonade* into 1 cm thick strips  

5. Add the kale to the bowl and mix with the your (clean) hands, squeezing the dressing into the kale to tenderize it a little bit

6. Serve and enjoy!

*chiffonade refers to thinly slicing greens/herbs into long thin strips. To get consistent sized strips, I bunch the kale up into a tight ball with my left hand and thinly slice. After I’ve completed this, I chop into thirds the other direction.