Committing to living my best life in 2021 includes greens at every meal, and even though it’s winter, there are plenty of inspiring, fresh options.

This week I set out to collect some of my favorite inspiring combinations. A spectacular winter salad celebrates what’s in season and may include deliciousness preserved from the summer as well as pantry items like dried fruits and nuts. This issue is full of ideas to get you started in a big way!

My favorite winter green salad is served with a citrus vinaigrette. I make this on repeat in various forms throughout the winter: beautiful romaine and arugula, cherry tomatoes or Tomato Confit, avocado, hearts of palm or artichoke hearts, and toasted almonds. Easy as a side salad or paired with my Everyday Roasted Chicken Breast. 

In some parts of the country, broccolini is still in season. And here’s a new favorite that comes together in minutes: charred broccolini, and red onions sauteed in the Marinated Red Onion oil. Try sautéing the onions and crushed garlic as we did here. The recipe comes together in less than 10 minutes. It’s delicious and easily prepared on the stove top, served just as it is, or with the addition of a bit of arugula. 

Winter salads are an opportunity to bring forward green olives, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, pepperoncini, and garbanzo beans.

For a Greek salad, go with Tomato Confit and Garlic Confit rather than fresh, spooning them onto your salad or blending them into a dressing.

Get creative and use your own favorites to make your salads a bit more inspired. Think about unexpected salad ingredients that you enjoy and build around them. Consider citrus, pomegranates, radicchio, endive, romaine, greenhouse tomatoes, and arugula.

A great way to enjoy winter greens is to squeeze on some macerated Preserved Lemon and toss in olive oil and salt for a deliciously tart dressing. And if you haven’t tried my Lime Caesar Dressing, now is the time!

 

Winter salads also lend themselves to nuts in lieu of summer produce. Candied nuts, roasted nuts, and nut pestos are lovely. Slightly sugared pecans are delightful for a bit of crunch, or simply roast your nuts for an extra depth of flavor. Also think about items like dried cranberries and dried blueberries. A delicious salad to add to your repertoire is shaved Brussels sprouts tossed with dried blueberries, cranberries, and almonds in a lemon vinaigrette. 

'Speaking of dressings, a great way to celebrate winter produce is with citrus vinaigrettes. Don’t limit yourself to lemon. Use ruby red grapefruit, clementines, or mandarin oranges, and more. Beyond following a recipe, learn about proportions and the way dressings are put together. Start with a quarter cup of citrus juice and slowly whisk in a half cup of olive oil. Once emulsified, feel free to add a touch of Dijon mustard and salt and pepper. To take this basic vinaigrette up a notch, purée in a couple ounces of sheep's milk feta.

I absolutely love the simple combination of romaine, cherry tomatoes, avocado, and artichoke hearts topped with toasted walnuts on a bed of arugula with a citrus vinaigrette. Very easy to pull together, and it feels so indulgent to be enjoying a salad like this in the winter.

There are so many more great ideas below the podcast—some of my favorite bloggers and cookbook authors are joining me this week. I’m particularly delighted to include Sami Tamimi. I followed him and was inspired by his work long before I was a blogger and cookbook author. His kind, generous attention was truly part of what gave birth to nocrumbsleft, and I am beyond grateful for our connection.

In this episode, I talk with nutritional therapist, author, chef, mother, and Navy wife Cristina Curp, who is such a firecracker! She shares how she embraced the idea of food as medicine. We share a passion for food and getting stuff done! We also cover writing our cookbooks, remaining sane in crazy times, self-discovery, living a public life, autoimmune disease, carving out time for yourself, and representation in the wellness field.

WINTER TABBOULEH WITH A BLOOD ORANGE DRESSING
TABBOULEH SHATWIEH FROM SAMI'S NEW COOKBOOK, FALASTIN: A COOKBOOK

This wonderful winter salad uses widely available ingredients. We associate tabbouleh salad with summer and sunshine, when tomatoes, cucumber, and herbs are at their best. But my mother always made a winter version using vegetables that reflected the season. You can substitute cauliflower, kohlrabi, or pointy cabbage for the greens, and pink or yellow grapefruit for the oranges. If you can’t have wheat, substitute quinoa for the bulgur. Whatever you add, it’ll be a delicious and flavorful main dish or side salad.

Click here for a printable version of this recipe.

CLICK HERE to get your own copy of Falastin: A Cookbook.

Sami Tamimi, Chef and Author
@sami_tamimi

 

SAMI TAMIMI

Winter salads are the crunchiest power against Father Frost! When the world outside is gray on gray, it's high time for colorful dishes like our Fresh Winter Greens with Tarocco Orange Salad & Japanese Dressing. We love to transform or reassemble familiar dishes with a new perspective and a colorful accent. As passionate home chefs with an Asian baseline, for us the basic principle is nose-to-tail and no food wasted.

Julie & Patrick Frei, Food Bloggers
@pajucooking

As a recipe developer and cookbook author, I'm forever on a quest for exciting uses for ingredients, playful cooking techniques, and reinterpretations of classic recipes. That's why I love this wintry salad! I developed this recipe years ago for Food & Wine, but I revisit it often because, if you ask me, it's practically perfect in every way. The tangy dressing is the ideal partner to earthy kale, while the airy, crunchy chickpeas are the best-ever swap for traditional croutons. CLICK HERE for the recipe.
 
Justin Chapple, Author of Just Cook It! and Culinary Director-at-Large for Food & Wine
@justinchapple
justinchapple.com

As a farming family, seasonal eating was simply what we did. Only when I was in my teens did I stop being surprised when an adult didn’t know what variety of peach they were eating. Now that I know what a blessing my upbringing was, I share as much agriculture as I can with others. These endive leaves packed with pomegranate and pears are typical of winter salads I’ve eaten my whole life: full of what’s currently being harvested, with a handful of nuts thrown in.

KC Cornwell, Gluten-Free Foodie
@gfreefoodie
gfreefoodie.com/endive-cups-with-pancetta-pomegranate

This is a perfect salad for the cooler months, when romaine lettuce and radicchio are easier to find than some other fresh produce. Pull the rest of the possible ingredients, like artichoke hearts, olives and peppers in jars, and chickpeas in cans, from your pantry.

Sarah G, Content Creator
@TheDelicious
thedeliciouslife.com