🥬 Cabbage & Potato Baked Salad
Baked Salad is an idea that elevates "Roasted Veggies" to create a one-sheet-baked easy, nutritionally dense salad!
If there was a word to describe Tiktok, it would be “trendsetter”. And although I am never really on the platform as a creator (I have 76 measly followers and am starting to post on there, so give me a follow if you are on Tiktok!), I follow a lot of food accounts and see emerging trends all the time. One such trend is - baked salad! Baked salads went viral a little while ago, made famous by the inventor of the butter board herself - Justine Doiron (Justine Snacks Substack).
The idea is that you bake (almost) everything that goes in the salad in the oven and toss it all together.
Hmmm, wouldn’t that be just regular old “Roast Veggies” then? my skepticism kicked in.
But the more I created and tried different recipes for “Baked Salads”, the more convinced I became that it was the only way to enjoy a salad on a cold night or when you wanted something warm and light on a cool night.
You see, I don’t get excited about the prospect of just eating roast veggies for dinner. Neither do I like the washing up of a dozen dishes after a meal has been cooked. I hate that with a penchant! But if you said that we were having “Baked Salad” for dinner, I would be your best friend for life. It sounds incredibly special, doesn’t it? It is an idea that builds on the roast veggies. You bake things in the oven. While they are baking, you cook something on the cooktop, maybe open a can from the pantry, chop a few crunchy fresh elements and mix a killer dressing.
When the things are baked, you add the cooked things, the pantry things and the fresh things and the dressing ON THE TRAY that was just baking in the oven and Voila! You have a gorgeous, delicious salad that is not only nutritionally dense but has protein, carbs, fiber and most importantly - flavour!
Biggest pro? No big washing up!
I make an Indian Cabbage & Potato Sabji quite often. A sabji is a dry Indian curry. It is my mum’s favourite sabji. I make it as a means to feel closer to my mum who lives in India while I am in Sydney. Cabbage and potato cooked with spices until it is caramelized with a “lid steam” method that I grew up with.
This baked salad is an ode to those textures and flavours but with twist! Caramelized cabbage is a whole new beast in the animal kingdom. If you haven’t tried it yet, I must insist that you do. It transcends into a silky smooth vegetable with sweet, caramel and nutty tones. My baked salad has golden roasted potatoes for heft (and good carbs!), black beans and quinoa for comfort (and protein!), alliums for sweetness and spice, and of course a lusciously thick creamy dressing. Because a baked salad needs to be hearty, the dressing needs to stick to your ribs.