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Easy Homemade Italian Salads Recipes
How to make Italian salad and salad dressing?
By Ainaz
"A well-made salad must have a certain uniformity; it should make perfect sense for those ingredients to share a bowl." ~ Yotam Ottolenghi
You don’t need to be on a diet, you can just eat healthy dishes like a notorious salad dish with fresh ingredients. Italy is famous for its exquisite cuisines and salad is one of them as well. Traditional Italian dishes are made with fresh ingredients and they are impossible not to love. In this article I gathered around some traditional recipes on how to make Italian salad. So keep on reading if you are a fan of eating healthy or you love all Italian dishes and you want to learn all about how you make Italian dressing.
10 Benefits of eating salad
First you need to know how notorious and beneficial salads can be and then you can make up your mind on making yourself a salad dish almost every day. Here are 10 benefits that you can gain from eating a healthy bowl of salad:
1. Building strong bones
2. Lowering the count of calories and weight management
3. Helping your digestion
4. Strengthening your muscles
5. Preventing diseases such as cancer because it is a perfect source of antioxidants
6. Helping the function of your thyroid
7. Helping your sleeping problems
8. Enhancing your immune system
9. Protecting your heart
10. Safeguarding the health of your eyes and skin
Different types of Italian salads
In order to understand how to prepare Italian salad you must learn different traditional salad dishes of Italy. Italians mostly eat chopped, tossed and pasta salads such as:
1. Caprese salad
2. Italian Burrata and Radicchio
3. Rucola e Finocchio
4. Panzanella
5. Pasta Salad with Pancetta
Knowing how to make Italian salad dressing is a form of art and in this article we are trying to teach you the easiest way to do so.
recipes
1. Caprese salad
Ingredients: fresh tomato – mozzarella cheese – fresh basil – virgin olive oil – salt and pepper
Estimated time needed to make: 10 minutes
Process: slice the tomato and mozzarella cheese then layer them and the fresh basil leaves on your plate. Drizzle some extra virgin olive oil on top and sprinkle some salt and pepper.
2. Italian Burrata and Radicchio
Ingredients (4 servings): 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar – 6 tablespoons of virgin olive oil – sugar and salt – half a cup of marcona almond – sliced oranges – one ball burrata – thyme
Estimated time needed to make: 15 minutes
Process: toast almonds over medium heat for 3 to 4minutes add the salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons of water. Wait till the water evaporates and then remove from heat. Don’t forget to stir in the process. Then let it cool. Put burrata in a food processor and mix till it looks like cottage cheese. Add the oil and sprinkle some salt as well. Grab a bowl and toss oranges, drizzle some olive oil and vinegar on top and radicchio and season with salt. Now divide the made burrata between plates and top with the orange salad and then sprinkle over the almonds on top of the dish.
3. Rucola e Finocchio
Ingredients: ¼ cup of fresh orange juice – fresh lemon juice – olive oil – torn romaine leaves- ¼ cup of chopped red onion – salt and pepper – chopped tarragon – 2 cups of orange segment- 2 cups of shaved fennel
Estimated time needed to make: 15 minutes
Process: mix the orange juice, lemon juice, tarragon, olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Now choose a plate and lay out some romaine leaves on the plate and put some orange, fennel and onion on top. Splash the mixture of juice and you can throw some almonds in as well.
4. Panzanella
Ingredients: one small French bread – 3 tablespoons of olive oil – 2 large tomatoes – one cucumber – one red and one yellow bell pepper – half of an onion – basil leaves – dry capers – Dijon mustard – minced garlic – 3 tablespoons of vinegar – salt and pepper – extra virgin olive oil
Estimated time needed to make: 30 minutes
Process: for the dressing mix ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard, minced garlic, vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. Now for the salad, sauté the bread with oil and salt for 10 minutes until browned. Now mix the cucumber, tomatoes, bell peppers, onion basil and capers and then add the sautéed bread cubes. Season with the dressing and season with salt and pepper.
5. Pasta Salad with Pancetta
Ingredients: 500 g dry shell pasta – green onion – chopped pancetta – 2 asparagus – fresh parsley leaves – egg-mayonnaise – lemon juice – wholegrain mustard
Estimated time: 25 minutes
Process: cook pasta in boiling water and add asparagus. And then drain. Cook pancetta in a frying pan until it's crispy and browned for about 4 minutes. Let it cool on the plate. Mix the pasta, onion, pancetta and asparagus in a bowl. Combine the lemon juice, mayonnaise and mustard in another bowl. Add the pasta mix to your plate and drizzle over the dressing.
Last word
Now you know the most delicious and famous salad dishes of Italy and you know how to make homemade Italian dressing. I hope you choose one of these recipes and make yourself an exquisite Italian dish with the taste of Italy. If you don’t have time, don’t hesitate and visit an Italian restaurant as soon as possible. Enjoy!