Category: Salads

All recipes paired with wine, Salads, Veggies based & Vegetarian

Greek salad

Vera C.

One of my best memories of my vacation in Greece years back was the visit of Athens and the monasteries high in the mountains. But I also loved their food. Simple, refreshing, and so good under the Greek sun! Here is my own twist on traditional Greek salad (apology to my Greek friends)

Greeg salad

Ingredients:
5-6 campari tomatoes
1 green bell pepper
1/2 of english cucumber (skin peeled off)
1/2 of red onion (thinly sliced)
Feta cheese (unflavored)
salad olive oil
red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar)
dry oregano
freshly ground pepper (optional)
olives (kalamata or other)
3 cups of your favorite lettuce

Chop all the vegetables to small pieces and mix in the large salad bowl. Add chopped or whole olives, onion and lettuce. (the original Greek salad doesn’t contain lettuce at all, it’s just tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers with red onion, olives and feta. Lettuce to me make it a little lighter version, with the typical taste preserved.

Combine oil, vinegar and oregano and pour over the salad, mix well so everything is evenly covered with dressing. At the end, add feta cheese, cut into a small cubes and carefully mix into the salad.

Serve chilled with piece of bread and glass of wine and you got yourself a nice and light summer dinner!

Wine pairing suggestion:
The saltiness of feta goes great with light and crispy Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc from Sonoma, California.
All recipes paired with wine, Salads, Veggies based & Vegetarian

Light Quinoa Salad

Vera C.

Light Quinoa Salad

Having to deal with gluten-free diet lately, I have discovered some totally new grains, I never new existed. When you use your fantasy, this diet is not so bad after all! If you aren’t on gluten-free diet, and you don’t want to go on journey to find quinoa, you can make this same salad from Israeli couscous or burghur and it will be equally delicious.

Light Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

1 cup Quinoa or Israeli couscous (cooked)
3 small tomatoes
½ green bell pepper
4 scallions
1 lime
½ cup of crumbled Feta cheese
½ cup of parsley and cilantro
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

Cook quinoa or couscous according the instructions. Set aside and let cool. In the meantime clean and finely chop all the vegetables and parsley with cilantro.

In the large bowl mix chilled grains with all fresh vegetables. Season with salt and pepper. Add 3 tablespoons of high quality extra virgin olive oil and lime juice. You can add more olive oil and lime juice if desired. Add finely chopped parsley and cilantro. Add the crumbled cheese the last.

Carefully mix together and season with more salt if desired. Serve chilled with slices of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.

Wine pairing suggestion:

I paired this dish with lemony wine from sunny Sardinia called Argiolas Vermentino Costamolino and we needed more salad for a second glass

All recipes paired with wine, Salads, Veggies based & Vegetarian

Broccoli gourmet salad

Vera C.

I first tasted this salad few years back at my friend’s house and couldn’t stop digging into it. Since I wasn’t the only one at that party, we finally got the recipe:

Broccoli gourmet salad

Ingredients:
3- 4 bunches of broccoli
¾ cup raisins
1 cup honey roasted peanuts
¼ cup red onion
1 lb. bacon (could use already prepared one in the bag)
3-4 tbs red wine vinegar
½ cup sugar (use Agave nectar or Stevia, if you’re watching sugar)
½ cup mayonnaise

Chop raw broccoli including stems into small pieces. Add raisins, peanuts, chopped onion and chopped, roasted bacon to broccoli.

Mix vinegar, sugar, salt and mayo (you can shake it in the jar) and pour over the broccoli mix. Refrigerate before serving.

Wine pairing suggestions:
Because of the sweetness of raisins in this dish and a richness of roasted bacon and mayo, I picked a rich white blend to match with it. Californian Conundrum is a very unique wine on the market, winemaker never really reveal the exact blend of grapes but I promise you, it’s delicious every single vintage. Also great as a welcome drink to start your party.