Vegetables

Beet that magenta risotto!

Dairy, Main Course, Rice, Risotto, Vegetarian

Dude!

Yesterday, I made eating pink a reality!  As you know, I really love pink… all vibrant colors, really, but pink(magenta) will always be “the one” for me.

Most people think of magenta as an artificial color…. but this is false. Just look at all the beautiful shades of pink out there!

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Greek Salad Madness: Lemon Zippy Laxanosalata

Appetizer, Gluten-free, Greek, Main Course, Salad, Vegetarian

Chu-chu-ca-chuuuu! (I love finding new nicknames for you as we blog along! haha)

A couple of weeks ago you posted about your phenomenal coleslaw salad, which I tried and it turned out AMAZING! Thank you so much for sharing it!! I used the purple cabbage, instead and … check out my rainbow salad.

A few years ago, our friend and #1 Feta & Arepa fan, Fah, suggested for me to read this book: “French Women Don’t Get Fat“. And I am really glad she did. It is a great book about the author’s journey to eating better, by mimicking French women, and what their secrets were to keeping slim despite being constantly surrounded by delicious food. Yes, of course, a big part of her plan was originally set on portion-control, however, the more important message for me was how to make everything you eat look stunning and taste of bold flavors, so that you can feel completely and totally satisfied. This has really stuck with me since I read that book, and has affected my cooking in a couple of ways:

  1. I love looking at really bright colorful plate of food when I sit to eat
  2. I love lots of variation of texture in all my meals
  3. I LOVE SPICES! (or delightfully contrasting flavors in each bite)

For this reason, I have taken one of the most basic dishes in the Greek winter repertoire and turned it into a truly fabulous dish! (Or, at least it looks that way!) This salad is served in every restaurant and every taverna, especially in the winter; due to the fact that tomatoes, cucumber and peppers are not in season, and the glory of Xoriatiki is lost. This salad is made with white cabbage and carrot, basically always served undressed, only accompanied by a piece of lemon. Once I swapped the traditional white cabbage for beautiful purple cabbage and let it marinate a bit before serving, that is when I realized the genius of this Greek creation! This is the recipe you mentioned in your coleslaw post. It is really lemony, with splashes of salty, freshly crunchy, and naturally carroty-sweet.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 head of purple cabbage shredded (not too thin)
  • 2 large carrots finely julienned (or shredded)
  • 2 tbsp capers
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 – 1 1/2 lemons’ juice
  • splash vinegar
  • 1 tbsp craisins (optional)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. (It will look like you have too much cabbage to carrots, but cabbage has a whole lot more water than carrots.)
  2. Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to let the flavours marinate the salad. (This also lets the cabbage soften and turn completely magenta!)
  3. SERVE!

I love this salad so much, that I can devour the whole huge bowl by myself in one sitting… OOPS there goes portion control, haha! Hope you had a great Passover, we are preparing for Easter Madness 🙂

Kisses, hugs and bright smiles!

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