Festive Christmas salads

Take your salads from bland to brilliant this festive season

It’s Christmas and there’s a turkey on the table shouting “Look at me, look at me!” But don’t let that big bird grab all the attention. You will absolutely need two or three show stopping salads to round off your Christmas feast and keep the hordes happy and well fed.

We’ve put together a “Festive Salads 101” to help you conjure a little culinary magic and create some seriously impressive salad sidekicks for your Christmas parties and meals.

Get the balance right

To score big points on the salad satisfaction scale you’ll want to include some eye-popping colours, interesting textures and a mouthwatering blend of flavours. Achieve the perfect balance by following these tried and true salad making formulas:

• Combine raw and roasted ingredients like this red cabbage and butternut squash salad topped with crunchy pecans, creamy feta and a sweet tahini and honey dressing. 
• Mix sweet and salty flavours together. An all-time favourite – and summertime classic – is Jamie Oliver’s mixed leaf salad with mozzarella, peach and prosciutto.
• Include a variety of textures like this salad of smashed green beans and crispy shallots.
• For next level results, top a basic mixed leaf salad with fresh chopped herbs, a sprinkling of nuts and seeds, crumbly cheeses or slices of fruit. A mix of crispy pan fried croutons with pancetta or bacon also works well as a delicious topping. Stock up on nuts and seeds at Horn of Plenty.

A potato salad is the perfect Chrissie crowd pleaser

Emerging from the kitchen with a potato salad is a guaranteed way to have your guests chasing you around the table with the salad servers. 

Woolworths at Chatswood Interchange has all the ingredients you need. And you can head to the Woolies website for a huge range of recipes from an easy-peasy basic potato salad through to a fancy-pants version with pan fried chorizo and rocket. 

Use Barbeque power for the win

It’s Christmas! Chances are you already have the barbeque fired up to cook your meat, fish or poultry.

As an alternative to roasting your salad veggies, throw corn cobs, eggplant, zucchini or capsicum on the grill. Add them to your salads for some sweet, smoky flavoured goodness.

Add something special

Christmas calls for that “little something extra” to elevate your salads from the everyday. Consider splashing out on a special ingredient or topping. Some ideas:

• Chatswood is a roast duck destination. Order from your favourite restaurant or supplier and serve sliced with lychees or water chestnuts on lettuce leaf cups with a tangy Asian style dressing.
  
• Add shredded crab meat or succulent prawns to a salad. 
  
• Use some fresh pomegranate seeds or dukkah as a topping for a green or roasted salad.

Say yes to the dressing!

A vinaigrette dressing with one part vinegar to three parts oil is a great all-rounder and good to have on hand in the fridge as a festive season “go to”. 

Mix a heaped teaspoon of mustard with vinegar in a jar. Shake it up and add the oil before shaking again. 

Try different mustards (seeded or Dijon) and vinegars (apple cider or balsamic), and pop a crushed garlic clove, some sea salt and cracked pepper in for extra taste.

DIY not an option? Grab some fab takeaway salads

It’s been a long and stressful year and you could be forgiven for wanting to avoid unnecessary hard yakka in the kitchen. Or perhaps you’ve planned a party and need to cater for a larger group of guests?

Outsource your salad making to the good folks at Stone & Peel by choosing from their fabulous range of healthy and delicious take away and home delivery salad options.