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Salad

Ultra Green Pesto Salad with Burrata

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All the healthy greens, in an insanely delicious pesto dressing topped with a dreamy creamy burrata. Oh yes. Healthy eating made tasty. You get your vitamin fix in while still enjoying all of that creaminess from the burrata cheese. Pure goodness.

I know that many of us are now wanting to become healthier for summer. And also, with the nice and warm temperatures we are craving food for which we do not have to heat up the oven or a pan, that is super quick and rather light. Because who loves standing in the kitchen for ages when the sun outside is so nice?

This salad is the perfect dish for such occasions. Do not be afraid by the word salad. It is not a boring one that won’t fill you up. It is full of so many nutrients, different veggies, cheese and the pesto dressing takes it next level. Nothing with boringness!

What is pesto?

Pesto is a sauce that originates in Italy. It most of the time is used for pasta dishes. Traditionally the pasta to make it with are trofie. Also, they add in some small pieces of potato. Honestly, if you have never tried and are afraid, I can tell you: don’t be. It tastes at least as good as tomato sauce if not better!

What is in pesto?

The ingredient list for pesto is very short. The main ingredient is basil. That gives it the colour and the amazing taste. As important: pine nuts. Not to confuse with peanuts. Oftentimes instead of pine nuts, other nuts are used, to make it cheaper, but the taste just is not the same. At all. Besides basil and pine nuts we need olive oil and parmesan cheese. This is the classic pesto. And this is the best way you can make pesto There are oil-free, and cheese-free versions out there, but if you do tolerate all of the ingredients I would recommend you use them.

Is pesto healthy?

I would say so. It has a little cheese, which is not necessarily the healthiest but all the other ingredients are pretty healthy. Basil is packed with vitamins and nutrients. Pine nuts and olive oil contain a good amount of healthy fats and minerals as well. Just be aware that pesto, because of its rather high fat content is also rather high in calories.

What else is in the salad?

Well, of course, a base: the salad. What works best here, is a mixed salad but you could also long for lambs lettuce, spinach or iceberg salad if you prefer. Besides that, we have a ton of different greens. Cucumber, for freshness, zucchini for crunch, peas, for that spring feeling, avocado, because we ain’t have a salad without avocado, and spring onions for the finishing touch. To add a nice touch to the taste, we are also adding some fresh herbs, mint and basil to be exact.

Does the salad work for meal prep?

A hundred percent, yes! Just make sure to pack everything separately. So salad and veggies in one box, dressing in an extra box, and the burrata in another box. It lasts in the fridge for 2-3 days. When wanting to have it, just mix everything through and enjoy!

I hope you like this recipe and it gives you some inspiration on what to cook this spring on summer!

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Ultra Green Pesto Salad with Burrata

A perfect light summer salad, that is everything else than boring. Healthy but tasty and filling!

Course Appetizer, lunch, Main Course, Salad, Side Dish
Prep Time 15 Minuten
Total Time 15 Minuten
Servings 4 servings
Calories 526 kcal

What you will need

  • 6 handful mixed greens
  • 2 zucchini
  • 1 cucumber
  • 150 g peas
  • 3 spring onion
  • 1/2 handful mint and basil
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 burrata 1 large one or two small ones
  • 4 tbsp sesame seeds optional

For the pesto dressing:

  • 1 handful basil
  • 30 g parmesan cheese cut into smaller pieces
  • 30 g pine nuts
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp olive oil or water (optional to thin out)
  • some bread to serve

How to

  1. Peel the zucchini into thin strips (lengthwise) and cut them in half (in width). Cut the cucumber into small slices. Boil the peas in boiling water for about 4 minutes. Cut the spring onions into small rings. Add all of those into a large bowl along with the mixed greens.

  2. In a food processor finely mince the basil and pine nuts. Add the olive oil and the parmesan and a sprinkle of sea salt. Blend until you have reached a smooth consistency. If you prefer your pesto on the thinner side, add another 2 tbsp of water or olive oil and mix again.

  3. Toss the salad and veggies in the dressing and divide onto four bowls. Cut the avocado in quarters. Put the sesame seeds on a plate and dip one side of the cut up avocado quarters onto them. This adds a really nice look to them. Add one quarter to each bowl.

  4. Cut the burrata into 4 and also divide this onto the bowls.

  5. Serve with some fresh bread !

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

Asparagus and Strawberry Salad

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This salad is like spring in a bowl. So mush freshness, fruitiness but also savoury goodness. Super easy to make, full of vitamins, perfect side dish or light main course. Absolutely in love!

Spring honestly is my favourite season. Everything is starting to bloom and coming back to life. Flowers are so colourful and the markets are full of fresh fruits and vegetables. Including two of my favourites: Asparagus and strawberries.

How we typically eat Asparagus

Asparagus is something very typical in Austria. We usually have it with Risotto, as a side or very very typical with potatoes, ham and molten butter or sauce hollandaise. But while this is good once in a while I feel like it is really heavy and not healthy in the long term. This salad, on the other hand is something very light and refreshing.

Which Asparagus works best?

Definitely a mix! Use some white stalks and some greens because the combination of the slightly different flavours is just super good! If you want, you can also use purple asparagus although I would not necessarily recommend to buy it extra for this. I have tried it out with purple asparagus but it lost its colour while cooking and turned green. So it was a bit of a pity.

How to cook asparagus?

This actually is not as easy as many people think. I mean it is to hard but you just need to know how. Green Asparagus is super easy. You just need to cut off the ends of the stalks and boil it in salted water for about 5-10 minutes, depending on how thick the stalks are. White asparagus is slightly different. It also needs some boiling water, you need to salt it, and add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 teaspoon of sugar. This takes out the bitterness of the asparagus and makes it really good!

Do you need to peel asparagus?

Depends. Green asparagus does not need to be peeled. Neither does purple one. White one on the other hand needs to be peeled!! Generously! I would recommend to peel it twice. If it is not peeled well it will have strings when eating and that’s not good tbh.

Fruit in salad?

A big YES!!! This is game changing! Especially the combination of strawberries and asparagus is insane! The sweetness of the strawberry pairs perfectly well with the freshness of the asparagus. If you do not have strawberries on hand or do not like them, you can add in raspberries instead, which also must taste really good!

Other add-ins:

Here you can be really creative! What would 100% work well is some kind of cheese like mozzarella, burrata cheese, cottage cheese or feta. Those would make it really good! Also, grilled chicken breast or prawns would take this next level but also hard boiled eggs.

When & how to eat it?

You can have this as a nice side dish and leave it as is or make a little more and add in something like hard boiled eggs for example and enjoy it with some freshly toasted bread or couscous to have it as a filling salad!

I hope that you like this recipe as much as I do and that you will make it many times this spring!

Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

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Asparagus and Strawberry Salad

Not your average asparagus side dish but much better! Sweetness of the strawberries paired with the taste of fresh asparagus is just heaavenly!

Course Appetizer, lunch, Salad, Side Dish
Prep Time 10 Minuten
Cook Time 20 Minuten
Total Time 30 Minuten
Servings 4 sides
Calories 149 kcal

What you will need

  • 500 g white asparagus
  • 500 g asparagus
  • 500 g strawberries
  • 2 spring onions
  • 1 handful mint
  • 1 handful basil
  • 1 handful parsley
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp maple or honey
  • 1 tbsp butter or magarine
  • 1 tsp sugar

How to

  1. Bring a large pot with water to a boil. Peel the white asparagus generously (about 2x). Cut the ends (about 3cm) of both, white and green asparagus and throw them away. Cut the asparagus into about 3-4cm sized pieces.

    Add the butter (or magarine) and sugar into the boiling water and salt it. Add in the white asparagus and cook for about 5 minutes. Then add in the green asparagus and cook for another 5-10 minutes, depending on how thick the stalks are. You can test if they are ready by pieking through them with a fork. If they almost fall off the fork, they are done. Then drain them.

  2. In the meantime remove the green part from the strawberries and half them or cut them into quarters, depending on how big they are. Slice the spring onions and seperate the onion rings from each other.

  3. Roughly chop up the basil, mint and parsley.

  4. Add the asparagus, strawberries, spring onions and herbs into a bowl. In a seperate small bowl combine the olive oil, the juice of 1 lemon and the maple syrup. Toss the salad in the dressing and serve!

    Enjoy!

Notes

If you want to have it as a main dish just make more (about half more, so 6 servings for 4 people). You can then also add in other things like hard boiled eggs, feta or mozzarella cheese, grilled chicken breast or prawns! 

Best Cauliflower and Parmesan salad with Parsley vinaigrette

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Nothing beats a good side to go along with any meal. Adds the extra wow and takes anything to the next level. Just like this cauliflower and Parmesan salad. Its one of these non- boring but super easy sides that you will start wanting to make with everything.

I git the inspiration for this dish when I was out eating at a restaurant in Dubai. I order a side, a veggie salad and something really similar to this recipe arrive, and it was bomb amazing. I knew I had to recreate it but at first I wondered if anyone else would like it because I have a taste for very healthy things that barely anyone likes but my family loved it too! They enjoyed the recreation even more. 

Salads are always a great side dish, i believe. They are light, refreshing, and full  of vitamins. Just as this salad is, just without the greens. And it will even get people who don‘t enjoy eating vegetables a lot, to eat it because the parmesan in the dish really turns everything around. It does not taste super healthy anymore. 

And let me tell you so much, it is ready in 5 minutes. At least if you have a food processor, if you don‘t then you probably need 10. yes, it is that simple. You can just prepare it while your fish is sizzling in the pan or somethings roasting in the oven. The making, essentially is, cutting the cauliflower into really fine chunks, or pulse it in the food processor because it will save you a lot of time. Other, you simply need to grate some parmesan cheese and chop it even a bit smaller, finely chop some parsley and combine the ingredients for the vinaigrette. And its done. 

This „salad“ goes best with a simple main dish. A baked fish or a grilled chicken breast or anything Italian inspired because the cheese in the cauliflower salad matches the Italian spices a lot. Surprisingly, it even gies well with some asian inspired dishes such as my steamed salmon in chili lime sauce. It really works with most dishes, but these are the ones I would recommend! 

It also works for meal prep if you want to prepare it ahead of time and enjoy it throughout the week! Just, do not add the vinaigrette before, only when you want to eat it because otherwise it will get soggy and wont taste as good anymore! 

I hope that you will enjoy this recipe and make it oftentimes because it really is that good! 

Enjoy,

Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière

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Best Cauliflower and Parmesan Salad with Parsley Vinaigrette

Not your average side but much better. fresh cauliflower, hearty parmesan cheese, light and herby vinaigrette. Goes perfect with anything. A must.

Course Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Total Time 5 Minuten
Servings 4 sides
Calories 142 kcal

What you will need

  • 1 head cauliflower
  • 40 g parmesan cheese
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 large lemon, juiced
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley

How to

That is how it works:

  1. Cut the cauliflower into small florets. If you have a food processor, place them in it and pulse until they are fine chunks. If you do not have one, finely chop them into rice-sized pieces and place them in a large bowl.

  2. Grate the parmesan on the rather large side. Then roughly chop it again, to also reach the size of the rice corn. Add it to the cauliflower and generously salt.

  3. In a small bowl combine the olive oil, parsley, honey and lemon juice. Toss the "salad" in the dressing.

    Serve in bowls and enjoy!

Honey Eggplant and chickpea salad with grilled halloumi

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Sounds like a lot and it is. So many flavors, so much goodness but still so simple and quick. Leave the boring salads behind and start making those next level ones. Salads have never tasted that good! 

Sunmer ist getting closer and closer, which means many people try to live and eat healthier. And whats the stereotype thing to do in order to eat healthiet? Salads! But contrary to commin believes, the plain ones only containing leaves and a dressing, maybe a piece of chicken, are bot the healthiest ones! 

Why are conventional salads not necessarily healthy?

Because they will fill you up for an hour maximum and wont leave you satisfied! Whats the problem with that? If you are not filled and satisfied for long, you will start to get hungry again very soon and snack or binge eat on unhealthy things as you will develop cravings for that. In order to bot develop these, it is important to have a filling, nutritious and delicious meal. And I know that this can be difficult with salads but believe me, this one is everything else than boring. 

Whats in it?

You bake the chickpeas and eggplant in the oven, with a slight olive oil and honey drizzle to get them crispy and a bit sweet. Honestly, life changing! If you habe never done chickpeas or eggplant with honey, I‘d say you should head straight to the kitchen and get started! And its so simple! You place the main components of the salad in the oven for 20 minutes and you are already half way there. 

The most extra dressing

The remaining base of the salad is some basic spinach. Bot a lot, just to add some color and vitamins! But whats a salad without a dressing? My brother would say rabbit food! And he is right. It is boring and plain. I do not get those people who skip on salad dressings because they literally are the easiest thing ever and add a ton of flavor. Honestly, don‘t skip on that. In here we have a super extra, still super simple dressing. 3 ingredients (!!) so much flavor! The ingredients are purred tomatoes (the ones from the can or box), Tahini and lemon juice. I do not know why I have never thought of making dressing with tomato sauce before but it is good. I wouldn‘t do it with a green side salad but on top of buddha bowls or italian inspired ones or ones that are pretty extra, as this one, this is so good! Highly recommended!

The star of the show

Last but definitely not least, the grilled halloumni. I have never had halloumni up till a few months ago and from then on it is a must in my diet! So addictingly good. On salads, on bowls, on pasta, on everything. It really adds this last pinch of salt to anything. Like here. It adds the extra wow, the saltiness and satisfying touch. We essentially only need to grill it for a few minutes on each side and thats it! Assemble! You can serve it with some bread, although I believe that this is not necessary because it is amazing and filling as is! 

You can meal prep it, just leave the dressing extra and keep in mind that the halloumni won’t be as melty and good but it still tastes pretty solid. My recommendation: make it fresh, it is better.

I hope that you will like this recipe and that it will change up your regular salad routine a little! 

Enjoy,

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Honey Eggplant and Chickpea Salad with grilled Halloumi

Next level salad. Has nothing to do with the boring image of salads you have in your head. Sweet and tangy eggplant & chickpeas, combined with salty fried halloumi and the most extra dressing. Enjoy now & Thank me later!

Course Appetizer, bowl, lunch, Salad
Prep Time 5 Minuten
Cook Time 20 Minuten
Total Time 25 Minuten
Servings 4 servings
Calories 366 kcal

What you will need

  • 2 large handful spinach
  • 160 g chickpeas from the can, rinsed, drained, and pat dry
  • 1 eggplant
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • some salt & pepper
  • 200 g halloumi
  • 1/2 lemon juiced

For the dressing:

  • 2 tbsp Olive Oil (just pured tomatoes from the can/ boy without anything)
  • 1 tbsp Tahini
  • 1 lemon juiced

How to

That is how it works:

  1. Slice the eggplant into about 2 cm sized cubes. Drain, rinse and pat the chickpeas dry. Place both in a bowl. In a seperate bowl combie the olive oil, lemon juice and honey. Generously salt and pepper the eggplant and chickpeas and then toss in the dressing. Bake for abou 20 minutes at 180°C.

  2. Meanwhile combine all the ingredients for the dressing.

    Heat up a grilling pan to high heat. Slice up the halloumi in about 0.5 cm thick slices. Just before the chickpeas are done baking, fry the halloumi on it for about 2-3 minutes on each side until it gets some grilling marks and melts nicely.

  3. When the tray is done baking, combine the ingredients with the spinach and the dressing. Seperate on bowls and top with the grilled halloumi!

    Serve and enjoy!

Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière