Winter Tomato Salad ♥ (Quick Pickled Vegetables)

Winter Tomato Salad (Quick Pickled Vegetables)
Today's quick, healthy vegetable salad recipe: Wow. An easy, cheap, make-ahead and portable salad? A healthy, low-carb, low-calorie and vegan salad? All that AND absolutely ZERO Weight Watchers points? Like I said, W-O-W. Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

Back in February, we turned ourselves into "snowflakes" and headed for Florida. (Snowflakes? Yes, snowflakes. Snowbirds head south for the winter. Snowflakes head south for a few days.) On the way back north, roadside stands beckoned: the "last" strawberries and the "first" tomatoes, the signs said. Still, I was dubious about the claim of local tomatoes. "Where are the tomatoes from?" I asked gently. "Are they from here?" "No! No!" said the woman with a shake of her head. "The tomatoes are from Immokalee!" ... that would be a town about 300 miles further south. Ha! Imokalee might not meet the "100 mile" standard for local food but in February, Florida is Florida.

The tomatoes, however, were lackluster, not the juicy ripeness of sun-ripened garden tomatoes that will grace our tables come late summer. So I had no qualms about tossing a few into a Mason jar with a few other vegetables and little more than vinegar and a few spices. Good? No! Fabulous! I wondered whether supermarket-variety Roma tomatoes would work too. Good? No. Fabulous! A winter tomato salad? It's a wonderment.

RECIPE for WINTER TOMATO SALAD

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 3 - 4 hours
Fills 1 quart canning jar, serves 8

PICKLING LIQUID
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons sugar or honey or something sweet
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Mix in a small bowl, stir to dissolve sugar and salt.

VEGETABLES
2 - 3 Roma tomatoes, chopped in bite-size pieces
1 bell pepper, yellow or orange for color contrast if you like, chopped in bite-size pieces
1/4 English cucumber, cut in bite-size pieces
About 1/8 small sweet onion, slivered, optional
Fresh herbs, optional

In a one-quart canning jar, pack a layer of tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, onion and herbs, then repeat. Press slightly to make room for more. Pour pickling liquid over top, cover the jar and tip up and down to distribute throughout the jar. Refrigerate for 3 - 4 hours, tipping occasionally if you think of it.

Best the same day but still good the second day.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
I think this would make a fabulous packed lunch, using pint jars instead of a quart jar, mixed in the morning, ready for lunch.
Experiment with different vegetables, aiming for color and crunch.



A Veggie Venture - Printer Friendly Recipe Graphic



Still Hungry?


KITCHEN PARADE, my food column LAST WEEK
Sausage & Kale Split Pea Soup

ST LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, my restaurant-recipe column LAST WEEK
Chicken & White Bean Chili from Boathouse Forest Park

EAT VEGETABLES IN SEASON: THIS WEEK, 2005 - 2012
Potato, Cabbage & Rapini Colcannon Clean-out-the-Fridge Purée Beet Ice Cream Pasta with Sausage & Broccoli Rabe Cauliflower Blue Cheese Gratin Fennel Mashed Potatoes Scalloped Potato & Apple Weight Watchers Mexican Zero Points Soup Bok Choy Salad with Homemade Creamy Vinaigrette (<<< this week's healthy favorite!) How to Roast Potatoes to Perfection Hot & Sour Chickpeas No-Cream Creamy Cauliflower Soup

MORE FAVORITE VEGETABLE SALAD RECIPES
~ Greek Bread Salad with Toasted Pita Chips ~
~ Cowboy Coleslaw ~
~ Fresh Green Bean Salad with Asian Dressing ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Alice Waters’ Coleslaw ~
~ Power Food Broccoli Salad ~
~ Cauliflower Salad with Fresh Herbs ~
~ more Favorite Summer Salad Recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade, my food column

A Veggie Venture is home of 'veggie evangelist' Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.
© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2013



Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. No, thank YOU for a quick pick-me-up when I have the BLAHS and can think of NOTHING. Love your cheery, delicious, bursting-with-health notes and recipes ... BRAVO!
    PS I am publishing as "anonymous" as I dont know what the other tags mean and when I hit Google, a complex message in Spanish assails me ... sooo

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  3. So what kind of herbs? Is that rosemary I see in the jar?

    --C.B.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's a pickled version of my summer favorite Greek salad (minus the feta and olives)!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great receipe and looks good in the Jar. Also a great idea for a packed lunch rather than the same old salad. Certainly one I am going to try

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna