Thursday, April 1, 2010

Green Salad with Orange Vinaigrette

This simple salad is great for a light lunch or on a warm summer day. It makes two entrée sized portions or enough for four side salads. I like using Trader Joe’s pre-roasted beets to save time and to avoid heating up the kitchen with the oven. The vinaigrette is very light and tangy. I originally didn’t use the yogurt, but after taste testing, it needed a bit more creaminess. If you’re not big on onions, feel free to leave that out completely or for a more mild onion flavor you could substitute minced shallots. To make this a heartier meal, add some left over roasted chicken or shrimp.



What You Need:

1 head romaine, cut into thin strips
8 pieces asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
¼ small red onion, thinly sliced
2 roasted beets, cut into bite sized chunks
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
2-4 oz goat cheese, crumbled
1 recipe orange vinaigrette, recipe follows



What To Do:
Divide all ingredients between two plates and serve immediately.

Serves 2


Bon Appétit!
Mary


Orange Vinaigrette

What You Need:
¼ freshly squeezed OJ (juice from 1 orange)
1 tsp orange zest (optional, but highly recommended)
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
1-2 Tbs minced red onion
1 Tbs plain yogurt (2% Fage Greek yogurt recommended)
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: 1 tsp honey



What To Do:
Combine all ingredients in a small food processor and set aside.  If you don't have a food processor, mince onions as small as possible and combine everything in a bowl with a wisk.

2 comments:

Mara @ What's For Dinner? said...

Girl, this salad looks AMAZING! I may need to steal this idea from you :)

What's Cookin' with Mary? said...

Thanks Mara ! :D I'm gonna keep 'em coming!! With all the summer produce coming into season I'm excited to see what kinds of things I'll be able to come up with to post about! :)
-Mary