Boring green salads be gone with you!

I don’t know about you but I find side dishes a challenge at times. I take so much time, effort and passion in designing/creating/crafting a great meal, the main protein base of it anyway, that  I find myself sitting back and thinking: What am I going to serve with it?

Sometimes this is easy:

• Thai  Red Curry = Rice;
• Slow Roasted Lam Leg = Roast Veggies;
• Moroccan Style Taginew = Cous Cous…. you get the idea

But there come times when rice and simple veggies – and the dreaded garden/ green salad – just don’t fill the gap. Do yo have the same problem?

Well no longer!

I have you a super simple salad that will side with all but anything. It only has 6 ingredients and is bursting with flavour, yet is still subtle enough not to overpower the main attraction of your meal.

The Paramedic and I have a successful vegetable garden this year. It’s not very big – its a small raised flower bed at the back of the garden/yard – but we have several tomato, capsicum, chilli and cucumber plants growing and producing nicely. We also have a good variety of herbs dotted round in pots which is making the summertime, eating your own produce, situation quite exciting – for this food nerd anyway.

However this year I have discovered something amazing in the grow-it-yourself world.

Lettuce and other green leaves plants…

Alright, I may be a little late for this trend but have you ever grown plants such as Cos Lettuce or Rocket? They’re amazing

With a bit of sun and water they sprout like nothing else and you can just go and pick the leaves as and when you need them. There’s no need to wait for the entire plant to grow.

Now, of course, every time I go out and tend to our little patch of veggie garden, I found myself munching on Rocket (Arugula) and Cos lettuce leaves. This is coming from there person that – once upon a time – thought lettuce and other such things were pointless and should be confined to feeding small fluffy herbivores.

And so I suddenly have a surplus of Cos lettuce (hello Caesar salad!) and Rocket. I thought about creating a big complicated salad with nuts and seeds and fruits for the arugula but, as a side salad, I thought it best to keep it quick, easy and simple

So, next time you’re struggling with the “what shall I serve with my food” moment, throw together this simple, yet yummy salad, and say goodbye to boring green leaves.