It’s salad time, a little Mediterranean and a little Asian. I live in Toronto and we are exposed to a wide array of Asian cuisines. One of the earliest to arrive were sushi restaurants and one of the standard dishes is a salad with miso dressing.

I’ve always been a fan of this dressing containing miso paste, which is made from fermented soy, rice or barley and is Japanese in origin.

A light coloured soy is best for dressings and not as salty or funky as the darker ones. I’ve added some Asian flavours to more familiar Mediterranean ingredients to come up with a dressing that is unique and certainly delicious.

This salad made its debut at my last Greek Supper Club, a huge hit!

My choice of ingredients complement the dressing and offer a beautifully presented salad. I have a vegetable curler to make curls out of carrots. In essence it works like a pencil sharpener. You can always use a vegetable peeler or grate some carrot if you wish.

The star here is the dressing, the vegetables deliver the flavour. I can’t wait to see your version of this salad. Kali Orexi!

Spring Salad with Mediterranean Style Miso Dressing

Recipe by Peter MinakiCourse: Asian, Carrot, Featured, Ginger, Honey, Lent, Oranges, Recipe, Salad, Sesame, Tomato, Vegetables, Vegetarian, Vinegar

Servings

4-6

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• For the Dressing

• 2 Tbsp light miso paste

• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

• 1 Tbsp minced ginger 

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

• 1/4 cup orange juice

• 2 Tbsp honey

• 1 tsp, minced garlic

• 3/4 cup oil (1/2 sunflower/1/2 olive oil)

• For the salad

• 1 small carrot

• 1 container (142 gr) of Spring Mix greens

• 1 Belgian endive

• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved

• sesame seeds (white or black or both)

Directions

• For the dressing, add all the ingredients into a plastic container and use a hand blender to incorporate. Have a taste and adjust flavours by tinkering with the ingredients to suit your taste. Set aside or place in the fridge until needed.
• Peel the skin off the carrot and use a vegetable peeler to make long thin shavings. Place in a bowl with cold water for at least an hour so they may crisp up and curl a bit.
• Divide and place mixed greens on each plate. Peel off and place three pieces of Belgian endive on each salad.
• Place cherry tomato halves on each salad and top with a carrot curl or two.
• Ensure your salad dressing is mixed well and spoon dressing over each salad. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Notes

• Add some thinly sliced Persian (small cucumber), they go very well in this salad