‘Eating the rainbow” is an excellent maxim by which to fill your belly. The easier on the eye your plateful is, the more enjoyable it will be to eat – and the more nourishing, too. All of which is good news for anyone following the advice to eat 30 plants a week for the sake of your gut.
Nutritionists have long extolled the goodness of what they call phytonutrients: a group of at least 5,000 compounds that are responsible for the colours, flavours and scents of the plants we eat. As Evangeline Mantzioris, a food scientist at the University of South Australia, has shown, carotenoids tend to make things red, orange or yellow and anthocyanins (among others) make things blue and purple. The green in your veg, meanwhile, is due not only to chlorophyll, but also to catechins, phytosterols, nitrates and other chemicals.
Each compound comes with benefits to the various systems in your body. Some improve blood circulation, some boost eye function and others guard brain plasticity.
The challenge, then, is to fit as many as you can into your meals. Here are 10 creative ways to brighten up your plate.
Anna Jones’s salad system
In her book The Modern Cook’s Year, Jones outlines a great system for hearty salads. Start with some leaves. Add a “hero” veg (beetroot, tomatoes, avocado) and something heartier (a grain, a pulse, some cheese). Heighten it with some texture (croutons, toasted seeds, caramelised nuts, crispy onion) and a herbaceous top note. Then dress: two parts oil to one part vinegar or citrus, with your seasoning of choice (miso, chilli, mustard, capers, cheese, spice). She recommends alternating between a tonal splash of greens (asparagus, peas, little lettuce leaves, bright herbs) with a dill and caper dressing, and a vegetarian niçoise (tomatoes, capers, olives and green beans bolstered with chickpeas or butter beans).
Yotam Ottolenghi’s way with citrus
Ottolenghi – the man who single-handedly repainted the basic British table – is very precise in his methods, which makes following them to the letter a culinary masterclass. That said, I take his ingredient lists as invitations to play, particularly with citrus in a salad. So, take your cue from his many pairings with grapefruit (sumac, red chicory and cress; shallot, chilli and lime), orange (caramelised fig and feta; dates, radishes and rocket) or lemon (thinly sliced, with za’atar and cucumber; sugar-roasted, with sage and tomato; preserved and finely diced, with courgette and fennel). Even better, make his citrus salad, which combines orange, pomelo and grapefruit with bitter leaves and an almond salsa.
Jeremy Lee’s cobb salad
The Quo Vadis chef-patron’s take on the cobb is not arranged in neat rows on a plate, but tumbled together – and all the better for it. Feeds six.
Cook 250g small new potatoes and 150g each of peas and green beans. Halve the potatoes and quarter the beans. Julienne 2 medium carrots (peeled), 1 small cucumber (peeled and de-seeded), 1 small courgette (topped and tailed) and 1 small celeriac (peeled). Finely chop the heart and leaves of a bunch of celery, 1 apple (cored) and 2 tomatoes. Thinly slice 2 heads of little gem lettuce, 1 small fennel head and a bunch of spring onions. Cut up the leaves of a small bunch each of mint and flat-leaf parsley. An optional extra is 3 hard-boiled eggs (peeled and coarsely chopped) and 6 rashers of streaky bacon, baked until crispy. Make a mayo: whisk together 2 large egg yolks, then slowly add 200ml light vegetable oil, then 50ml olive oil. Season with 1 tsp cider vinegar, 1 tbsp dijon mustard, a few drops of tabasco, the juice of half a lemon and a big pinch of sea salt, then toss in the bowl with all the ingredients. Adjust seasoning to taste and scatter the bacon on top, if using, with a little chopped parsley and a drizzle of olive oil.
Sabrina Ghayour’s sweetcorn, black bean and avocado salad
The British-Iranian chef says that, as a kid, she would eat sweetcorn straight from the can, but now she prefers to cook it on the cob. To serve 10-12 people, boil 6 sweetcorn cobs until tender (about 10 mins), then drain and rinse under cold water. Hold each upright on a chopping board and, using a sharp knife, slice off the kernels in strips, from top to bottom. Place in a bowl with 2 avocados (peeled and sliced), a drained can of black beans, 4 makrut lime leaves, 4 spring onions and 30g fresh coriander, all finely chopped, plus 1 small red pepper, 1 small green pepper and 2 long red chillies, all de-seeded and finely sliced. Dress with 2 heaped tablespoons of mayonnaise and a drizzle of olive oil and season to taste. Adapted from Simply (Mitchell Beazley)
Miguel Barclay’s 10-minute wonders
Barclay is the time-poor home‑cook’s friend. When it is hot outside, his simple ideas are exactly what is needed. These make one portion each.
In a bowl, mix a handful of thinly sliced red cabbage with ¼ thinly sliced red onion, ¼ carrot (julienned) and a handful of fresh, chopped coriander. Squeeze over the juice of ½ lime, add a splash of olive oil and a pinch each of salt and pepper, then leave it to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Defrost a big handful of frozen peas and a small handful of frozen broad beans, then shell the beans. Tip into a bowl, dress with a splash of olive oil and season with a pinch each of salt and pepper, then add a handful of chopped mint, 1 sliced red chilli and a small handful of crumbled feta. Mix to combine. Adapted from Meat-Free One Pound Meals (Headline)
Honey and Co’s Jerusalem water salad
Honey and Co’s Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich say to prepare this only in high summer, when tomatoes and cucumbers are at their best. It feeds four.
Finely dice 150g peeled cucumber, 2 spring onions, 1 red pepper, a handful of small radishes and 2 tomatoes (de-seeded). Mince 1 garlic clove. Mix everything together in a bowl, cover and chill for up to a few hours. Just before serving, add the juice of ½ lemon, 240ml water, ½ tsp of salt and a pinch of freshly ground black pepper and mix well. Adapted from Honey & Co: Food from the Middle East (Pavilion).
Sally Butcher’s crunchy cauliflower and brown rice salad with miso and amardine dressing
Butcher is the grocer in Peckham, south London, whose books spring to mind when you think of vibrant salads. This also works with quinoa or any crunchy cruciferous veg, such as broccoli or kale. Serves four as a side, or two for lunch.
Soak 50g raisins in water for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook 250g brown rice, drain and refresh. When fully cooled, place in a mixing bowl with ¼ cauliflower (cut into tiny florets), 2 celery sticks and 1 medium red onion (all finely chopped), 1 carrot (peeled and grated) and the drained raisins. To make the dressing, place 100g amardine (apricot fruit leather – dried sheets – which you can find in most Arabic food shops) in a small pan with a splash of water and warm gently until dissolved. Cool slightly, then mix with 2 tbsp miso, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 3 minced garlic cloves, 1 heaped tsp Aleppo pepper flakes and 2 tbsp olive oil. Season to taste, then pour over the vegetables and stir well to serve. Adapted from Veganistan: A Vegan Tour of the Middle East (Pavilion)
Batten and Rowe’s green and gold fruit salad
Rhiannon Batten and Laura Rowe suggest serving this with yoghurt, which would make a perfect all‑day breakfast. But I never restrict fruit in a salad to dessert; I would happily eat this alongside some roast chicken and rice, dressed with a rice wine and soy dressing. Serves four.
Heat the oven to 130C fan/150C/300F/gas mark 2, then mix 2 tbsp melted salted butter, 2 tsp caster sugar, ½ tsp ground cinnamon and ½ tsp ground ginger in a bowl. Pour in 100g seeds (try a mix of pumpkin, sunflower and sesame) and stir to coat. Spread the sticky seeds on a baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes, stirring and turning midway through cooking. Allow to cool. Meanwhile, de-seed and peel 2 different-coloured melons (honeydew or galia plus cantaloupe works well) and stone 2 white nectarines and 4 apricots, then cut them all into slices. Arrange on a plate, scattered with mint leaves and the spiced seeds. Serve with yoghurt, if you like. Adapted from Rustle Up (Pavilion)
Fliss Freeborn’s halloumi, chickpea and bulgur wheat salad
Freeborn, Fortnum & Mason’s cookery writer of the year, has no time for salads as sides. For her, they have to feed a person, so she believes in including carbs. Here, she suggests adding to bulgur wheat (or rice, if you want to make it gluten-free) either pomegranate seeds or chopped apricots, but I would include both. Substitute tofu for the halloumi to keep it vegan. Serves two, generously.
Cook 120g bulgur wheat in salted water, according to the packet instructions. Fry 220g halloumi slices in a splash of olive oil until golden on both sides, then remove and chop up. To the same pan, add a can of chickpeas and 2 tbsp harissa paste. Stir-fry for 4-6 minutes, to coat the pulses, then leave on a low heat, stirring occasionally, while you dice 1 small deseeded cucumber and very finely chop 20g each coriander and parsley. When the bulgur wheat is cooked, drain it, then tip into a big serving bowl with the chickpeas. Mix, then add in the halloumi, cucumber and herbs, along with 2 tbsp pomegranate seeds or chopped apricots. Drizzle with olive oil and 1 tbsp lemon juice and serve warm, sprinkled with 1 tbsp flaked almonds, if you like. Adapted from Do Yourself a Flavour (27 July, Ebury)
Nancy Singleton Hachisu’s potato chip salad
In her most recent book, Japan: The Vegetarian Cookbook, Singleton Hachisu shares a recipe from a friend of hers – a nun called Harumi Kawaguchi – that, she says, is most appealing because it contains so many of her favourite summer vegetables. First, make a batch of crisps (sorry, Americans, they are not called potato chips). All you need is 3cm of oil in a pan on a medium heat, in which to batch-fry 450g of very thin potato rounds. When golden, remove them and pile on top of a bed of red lettuce, tomato and cucumber, dressed with a vinaigrette spiked with curry powder. Garnish with thin rounds of celery. As Singleton Hachisu puts it, the crisps might take a bit of effort, but they elevate the dish into something special.
