Our simple lunch salad consisted of a bunch of home-grown kale, lollo rosso and lettuce, with fried tofu cubes and cashews. I added a pinch of cayenne to the tofu along with the usual dashes of soy sauce and balsamico to get a bit of heat to complement the sweet-tart blueberry dressing. Forest blueberries are not as sweet as cultivated blueberries, so the amount of sugar might need tweaking depending on the type of berry that is used.

The Blueberry Dressing:

• 1 and 1/2 dl fresh blueberries
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon whole cane sugar
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
• plenty of freshly ground black pepper

I mixed the dressing with our immersion blender and that’s it. This made enough to dress two huge lunch portions, and would probably yield four portions of a more moderate size.

Dandelion, pictured above, is a wild veggie classic, but sadly not held in very high esteem in Finland. I think it tastes a lot like arugula. We ate the leaves almost every day in salads with a vinaigrette sauce.

Greater plantain is widely know in Finland to be a plant with medicinal properties. I remember my parents making a plantain poultice to treat a cut I got at the cottage when I was a child. The leaves are also a great, milder tasting addition to salads.

Fireweed is a delicious wild vegetable that can be used like asparagus or water spinach. It’s best used when the stalks are between 10 and 20 centimeters. We ate it on two separate occasions. The first time we steamed them and ate with olive oil and salt, and the second time I fried them in a pan and added garlic and soy sauce.

Lady’s mantle is a family of plants of which all the species are edible. The umbrella-like leaves were quite mild tasting, and we used them in salads with a vinaigrette sauce. Supposedly they go well in soups too.

Winter cress (Barbarea vulgaris) is an excellent but little known wild veggie. It’s name probably comes from the fact that its rosette stays green all through the winter. Its buds and uppermost leaves are used like broccoli. We fried them in oil together with some fireweed. This is what the buds looked like when I picked them:

Most of the wild veggies are best eaten in early spring, because their taste gets more bitter into the summer. It’s a short, very special season, which makes me think about the time before greenhouses and imported vegetables. Last spring we made a nettle casserole and a goutweed soup, this spring it was mostly salads. Also, check out the pesto Goddess of Cake made from goutweed.

Before gathering wild veggies, you’ll need a guide or a guidebook. For use in the Nordic countries, I recommend the book by Pelle Holmberg, Marie-Louise Eklöf and Anders Pedersen called Mauste- ja terveyskasvit luonnossa (2009), or Vanliga vilda växter till mat, krydda, hälso- och kroppsvård (2007) in Swedish. It has great photos of the plants, making it easy to identify them, and also  information about their medicinal properties.

This makes enough tofu for 4, so we have plenty of leftovers – they are very munchable and a nice addition to many meals.

The Herbed Tofu (serves 4):

• 500 g tofu
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons tamari soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon each: smoked paprika, thyme, sage, tarragon
• 1 teaspoon brown rice vinegar
• freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

I first pressed the tofu – sliced it, wrapped in cheesecloth, placed a cutting board and a pile of cookbooks over it, and let sit for 15 minutes. Then I cut it into small-ish cubes (about the size of the tip of my thumb), heated the oil in a frying pan on medium high heat, and fried the tofu cubes until slightly browned on most sides. This takes about 10 minutes, and while the tofu was frying, I had plenty of time to mix together the seasonings (tamari through garlic).

When the tofu was nice and golden brown, I poured the seasoning mixture in the pan, and stirred it to coat all the tofu cubes. I kept on stirring until the liquid was absorbed and started to get brown, and removed the pan from heat. I let the tofu come to room temperature before adding it to the salad base.

The Salad Base (serves 2):

• 1 small head of new cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• a bunch of arugula, chopped
• 6 sundried tomatoes, chopped
• a squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoons gomasio (Japanese sesame salt), or salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon agave syrup
• plenty of black pepper
• fresh basil

I just tossed everything together in a large bowl, added about half of the tofu, and sprinkled with some fresh basil.

I just used whatever veggies there were to be found in our fridge, and luckily the red bell pepper and edamame beans went really well together both in texture and flavor. Ginger juice can be easily extracted by first grating some fresh ginger and then squeezing it so that the juices ooze out. The amount in this recipe is an estimate since I didn’t measure, but I used what I got from a small piece of ginger.

This is what I had (for 1 large lunch portion):

• 1 bundle or 50 g soba (Japanese buckwheat) noodles
• 2 dl frozen edamame (fresh soy beans)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 10 Roman lettuce leaves, chopped
• 1 tablespoon shiro miso
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger juice

First I cooked some water and poured it over the frozen edamame to defreeze them. Then I heated a large pot of water until boiling, added the noodles and the drained edamame, and cooked for 6 minutes. Meanwhile, I chopped the veggies and placed them in a bowl, and mixed together the sauce ingredients (miso through ginger). When the noodles and beans were cooked, I drained them and rinsed under cold water, drained again, and added to the bowl. I dressed with the sauce and tossed everything together, and my 15-minute-lunch was ready to be served.

A bundle of soba noodles.

We both really enjoyed this dish as a light Sunday lunch with a slice of bread. Well, for Heikki this was more of a breakfast really… The flavors are bright and clean, and a nice texture is provided by edamame and cauliflower. For a heartier salad, I would add a handful or two of toasted cashews, or maybe a sprinkling of sunflower seeds.

The Marinated Cauliflower:

• 200 g cauliflower, in small florets
• juice of 1/2 lime
• grated zest of 1 lime
• pinch of salt, sugar, and cayenne pepper

I mixed all the ingredients together and let them marinate in the fridge for a few hours.

For the Salad:

• 1 and 1/2 dl quinoa, plus 2 and 1/2 dl water for cooking
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4 dl edamame (frozen’s what we have)
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced

This is how I usually cook the quinoa for nice and fluffy results: rinse the quinoa well, place the quinoa and the water in a small cooking pot, and cook on high heat until the water starts boiling. Then I reduce the heat to low and cook, tightly covered, until all the water has been absorbed and the quinoa has steamed a bit, for about 20 minutes. This time I added two garlic cloves in the cooking water as well, and after the quinoa was done, removed them from the pot and saved for later use in the dressing.

The edamame we get is frozen, and I just cooked it in plenty of water for about 3 minutes, then rinsed with cold water to cool down.

After the quinoa and the edamame had cooled to room temperature I tossed them together with the onions in a salad bowl.

The Dressing:

• 1/2 dl olive oil
• juice of 1/2 a lime and 1/2 an orange
• the two cooked garlic cloves from the quinoa
• 1/2 dl chopped cilantro
• 1/3 teaspoon cumin (jeera)
• pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar, or more to taste
• 3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• plenty of freshly ground black pepper

I mixed everything except salt and pepper together in our mini food processor until smooth and light green. Then I seasoned the dressing with salt and pepper, tossed the salad and the cauliflower florets with the dressing, and garnished with a few yellow cherry tomatoes.

This makes quite a large batch for two, so we had leftovers – they tasted mighty delicious after half a day of refrigeration as well.

This is a lunch salad I made for myself the other day, and we had the leftovers as a side dish for a few days after that. I love the combination of oranges and red onions, and the freshness of the fruit was a very nice contrast to the earthy flavor of kamut. I don’t see why kamut couldn’t be replaced with another less expensive grain in this recipe: wheat berries, spelt berries, or even whole brown rice would most likely be very nice.

Here’s what I put in my salad:

• 5 dl cooked kamut
• 1 orange, chopped
• 1 large red bell pepper, cubed
• 6 sundried tomatoes in oil, rinsed and chopped
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 fresh red chili, deseeded and chopped
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teapoons salt (or more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• freshly ground black pepper to serve

Kamut is a grain that requires soaking overnight and even after that, a normal cooking time is about one hour to an hour and a half. I cooked mine in a pressure cooker for 20 minutes, and then let the pressure come down naturally for 10 minutes.

After the kamut had cooled down, I just tossed all the ingredients in a bowl, and refrigerated the salad for a few hours before serving. It actually got better and better over the next few days, so refrigerating the salad overnight would marry the flavors nicely.

Right before serving, I crackled some black pepper over the salad. Very nice served with homemade crackers or a nice crusty bread and hummus!

It’s important to choose waxy potatoes for salads, since they won’t get all mushy once cooked and cubed like their starchy relatives do. I even forgot my potatoes on the stove this time, and consequently overcooked them until their skins started to crack, but they still kept together just fine!

The Dressing:

• 1/2 dl olive oil
• 1/2 dl apple cider vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, rubbed
• 1 teaspoon salt
• black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon red paprika powder
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

The Salad:

• 1 and 1/2 kg waxy potatoes, boiled, peeled, and cubed
• 4 Russian-style salted cucumbers, cubed (see our Stroganoff recipe for more information on Russian cucumbers)
• 35 g capers (1 small jar, or about 5 tablespoons)
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and finely cubed
• 1 can chick peas, rinsed, or about 3 dl cooked chick peas
• 1 small leek, rinsed and sliced
• chives (for garnish)

I just combined all the ingredients, whisked the dressing together, and mixed it in the salad. At this point, I always adjust the saltiness, and check if the salad still needs a dash of vinegar, or a little more black pepper.

Then we let the salad develop in the fridge overnight before taking it with us to the May Day picnic. This makes a big amount, and we even had leftovers with lunch for a few days after the picnic day – which is good, because this salad just gets better and better.

We used a pointed ramiro pepper for the salad, since Heikki happened to find a good deal on them in the grocery. They are sweeter than regular bell peppers, and slice beautifully, making them perfect for use in salads.

Salad:

• 2 dl dry risoni (orzo) pasta
• 4 dl cooked chick peas
• 1 medium head of iceberg lettuce, chopped
• 1 red ramiro pepper, thinly sliced
• bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced
• a little olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice for the risoni
• 1-2 cloves garlic

Dressing:

• 1/2 to 3/4 dl olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons muscovado sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried sage
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• freshly ground black pepper

FIrst, I cooked the risoni according to the instructions on the package, only to find it to be a little too crunchy still, and ended up cooking it double as long as the time indicated in the package. When it was finally done, I rinsed it in cold water, added a tablespoon of olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, and two pressed garlic cloves, and refrigerated the risoni for about 15 minutes, while we proceeded with the rest of the salad.

We prepped the veggies and mixed the dressing, and then I tossed half of the dressing with the iceberg lettuce in the salad bowl, and the other half with the chick peas in a smaller bowl. Then I poured the risoni in the salad bowl, tossed to mix with the lettuce, added the chick peas, and sprinkled with the peppers and the spring onions.

This recipe makes a lot of salad, but Heikki and I finished it by bedtime – we just couldn’t stop ourselves.

Cooked risoni – looks like rice to me!

Beans:

• 200 g dried moth beans, soaked overnight
• 2 cloves garlic
• vegetable broth
• 1 bay leaf

Dressing:

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Garnish:

• 3 tablespoons fresh or frozen cilantro (coriander leaves), chopped

First, we soaked the moth beans overnight, and then cooked them in vegetable broth seasoned with a bay leaf and 2 cloves of garlic. We used our pressure cooker for cooking, and after only five minutes the beans were perfectly creamy for the purposes of this salad. If cooked in a regular cooking pot, they should be done in 20 minutes or so.

Now, we drained the beans, removed the bay leaf, and let them cool down a few minutes. Then I mixed the sauce and mixed it with the beans when they were still warm, let them cool to room temperature, and garnished with plenty of frozen cilantro.

This salad is especially loved by dancing Christmas elves, the little guys that moved to live with us in the beginning of December. The salad has a nice crunchy texture from cabbage and toasted sunflower seeds, and tofu “cheese” binds everything together wonderfully. This recipe was veganized from a little Swedish cookbook I borrowed from the library, Vegetarisk julmat by Lena Brorsson Alminger.

Here’s what I used:

• 1 dl grated or finely sliced red cabbage
• 1 dl our (or other) tofu “cheese”
• 50 g sunflower seeds, toasted
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• salt and frechly ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

After toasting the seeds on a dry frying pan over high heat, I mixed everything together while the seeds were still hot. This salad is really tasty at room temperature, and other ingredients will cool the toasted seeds just enough.

If the cabbage is a little bit on the dry side, it could be either grated very finely, or placed in a bowl and beaten with the bottom of a drinking glass, or an empty bottle, until it softens up.