spring salad

Julienne vegetable salad with Lemon vinaigrette-Julienne carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, sugar peas, green beans and mixed spring greens on a white serving dish.

A colourful and crisp salad idea, this Julienne Vegetable salad with lemon vinaigrette is a healthy recipe and is best made ahead of time for flavours to blend. It’s a delicious spring or summer salad recipe or one that can be enjoyed year round. This recipe makes a healthy and delicious addition to your meal planning for the week.

How to Julienne Vegetables

To julienne vegetables is to use a French knife technique that adds extra visual appeal to your food. It’s a technique used to prepare vegetables by cutting them into matchstick-shaped pieces. The carrots and zucchini in my photos are thicker than typical julienned vegetables.

To julienne a carrot, start with a peeled carrot with the top and bottom chopped off. Then cut the carrot into pieces that are two or three inches long. Trim the rounded part of each carrot piece to make a rectangular shape. Cut the rectangular shapes into ⅛-inch strips, creating a uniform matchstick shape.

An alternate way to julienne vegetables is with a julienne peeler. It is a tool that has sharp, jagged edges where you would usually find a straight peeling blade. A julienne peeler does not work on every vegetable. It’s meant for firm veggies like root vegetables, instead of soft ones like tomatoes.

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Ingredients:

1 cup sliced green beans 2 inch lengths

1 cup julienne strips of carrot 2 inch lengths

1 cup julienne strips of zucchini 2 inch lengths

1/2 cup snap peas

1/2 cup mushrooms

Salt and pepper to taste

Lettuce leaves(or a mix of spring greens), torn in bite sized pieces

Lemon Vinaigrette

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

2 Tbsp chopped chives

1 clove garlic, minced

Julienne strips:

Blanche the green beans, carrots and snap peas in boiling water for one minute. Immediately drain and plunge into cold water. Drain when cool and dry well. Combine green beans, carrot, zucchini, snap peas and mushrooms.

Combine vinaigrette ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Pour over vegetables, toss well and place on top of lettuce leaves. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.

Julienne Vegetable Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Julienne vegetable salad with carrots, zucchini, mushroom, snap peas and spring greens.

Enjoy! I used a mix of spring greens(baby lettuces, baby kale, arugula, baby chard, baby spinach, radicchio) that came in a salad kit from the grocery store.

Julienne Vegetable Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

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