Marinated Vegetable Salad

 

Marinated Vegetable Salad

This big-batch marinated vegetable salad recipe keeps for days in your refrigerator, making it very suitable to picnics. The recipe can easily be doubled or even tripled for very large gatherings.

This is a basic vinaigrette dressing recipe, quick and easy. It also works very well with store-bought vinaigrette dressings.

8 cups Your favourite vegetables:

broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, kohlrabi,
peppers (red/yellow/green/orange), red/green cabbage,
onions/chives, sugar snap/snow peas, cherry tomatoes ...

4 tbsp.	canola or olive oil
6 tbsp.	vinegar
1/4 tsp.	dry mustard
2 cloves	minced garlic
2 tsp.	sugar
	salt & pepper, to taste

Chop all the vegetables into bite-sized pieces and put into a large bowl (preferably one with a lid). Mix up the dressing in a jar or separate bowl and pour over the vegetables. Leave in the fridge to marinate until picnic time.

Orchard Fruit Couscous

Orchard fruit couscous is a very refreshing salad recipe for hot summer days. Using fresh fruit instead of vegetables makes it a nice change from the ordinary.

In most countries, couscous is considered a grain product. In North America, however, it is considered a pasta product and can usually be found in the pasta aisle of the supermarket.

3 cups	orange juice
1 cup	couscous
1/2 tsp.	ground ginger
1/2 tsp.	ground cinnamon
3	plums, pitted and diced
2 cans	Mandarin orange segments, drained
1	pear, cored and diced
1 cup	strawberries, diced
1/4 cup	fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
	(or 1 tsp. dried mint)

In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups of orange juice to a boil. Stir in the couscous, cover and remove from heat. Let stand approx. 5 min. (until all liquid is absorbed). Place into a serving bowl (or plastic bowl with fitted lid for transporting to your picnic site).

Bring remaining 1 cup of orange juice, ginger and cinnamon to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15-20 min. until liquid is reduced to approx. 1/2 cup. Let cool.

Combine the sliced fruit with fresh mint. Stir the fruit into the couscous. Pour the cooled reduced juice over the mixture and toss to combine well.

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Helpful Hints:

• Use any of your favourite seasonal fruits for this recipe, as long as it equals approximately 4 cups.
• You can also transport and serve this fruit salad in nice glass jars. Pour the reduced juice mixture onto the couscous and combine well. Then simply create layers of couscous and fruit into the jars for a nice presentation.