The Simple Tip For A Salad That Looks As Good As It Tastes
Summer is the harbinger of salad season, when cool, crisp vegetables take center stage. The likes of cucumbers, carrots, zucchini, radishes, sweet onions, or almost any veggie, just tastes better during warmer months. However, if you want to make an even better salad that looks as pretty as the leafy greens and veggies that comprise it taste, follow this simple tip: Shave those in-season ingredients into ribbons rather than chopping them up into chunks.
When you use this technique that requires little more than a peeler, you are not only crafting beautiful and sophisticated slivers of your favorite veggies, you are creating a different texture experience. Maybe it is just the visual presentation, but ribbons of cucumbers, carrots, asparagus, and zucchini seem to taste sweeter and lighter, and they do so without sacrificing that beloved crunch. Whether you are creating an everyday salad with an herby lemon vinaigrette or a tortellini Greek salad, there are plenty of opportunities to incorporate lovely strips of veggies into your classic recipes.
It's super easy to do. After washing and drying your vegetables start peeling from the top, swooshing the peeler all the way from top to bottom. For a carrot, you may want to discard the outer layer. Keep rotating the vegetable so that the strips don't get too wide, and stop when you get to the very center. For carrots, this can be finely chopped. For cucumbers and zucchini, you may want to discard the seeded centers.
No peeler, no problem
One of the optically stunning aspects of shaving veggies into a mountain high pile is the variation in shapes that results. For those vegetables that cannot be transformed into long ribbons, consider using a mandoline slicer to create ultra-thin pieces that will echo the same thickness as those veggies that have been made into ribbons, but look more like round disks. Beets, turnips, and leeks are among those vegetables that work well with the mandoline. Cut them narrow enough, and you can eat them raw or add them to a toasted sesame noodle salad.
If the thought of using a mandoline makes your fingers tingle with fear, or you don't own a vegetable peeler, try using a food processor or even the slicer on a cheese grater. Either of these kitchen tools can help alleviate some of those safety fears so you don't have to worry about your fingers getting cut up, but vigilance is always key. So, the next time you make a shaved root salad, break out your shaving gadget of choice and use it on your veggies to create a salad that looks as good as it tastes.