Rainbow Salad

April Showers have featured highly this month where I live but in between there has been a few spells of glorious sunshine too. So much so, I've actually watered my garden to nurture my seedlings. I love seeing a rainbow after the showers have died down and the sun comes back out to play. So to celebrate our beautiful rainbow I decided to make a rainbow salad, which features foods from all colours of the rainbow.

OK so the blue isn't 'blue' but the vinaigrette is based on blueberries which are and it tastes delicious so I've excused myself!

So here's what I used for each colour:

Red: Tomatoes, roasted red peppers and a hint of chilli
Quarter 12 cherry tomatoes, cut 2 roasted red peppers into strips and finely dice ¼ red chilli. Carefully mix all ingredients together. Serves 4 as part of the rainbow salad.

Yellow: Pasta salad with sweetcorn, yellow pepper and diced onion
Cook 100g of pasta of your choice as per cooking instructions, drain and rinse with cold water and drain again. Finely dice 1 yellow pepper and 1 onion and add to a bowl. Drain a small tin of sweetcorn and add to the bowl. Spoon over 4 Tbsp vegan mayonnaise, zest of 1 lemon, ¼ Tsp garlic granules and a pinch of turmeric. Mix together before adding the pasta and stir to coat. Serves 4 as part of the rainbow salad.

Pink: Beetroot houmous - Recipe can be found here

Green: Salad leaves with spring onion, olives and celery

Purple: Purple coleslaw with red cabbage, red onion and beetroot
Finely shred 250g red cabbage, cut 1 red onion in half and finely slice and grate 150g cooked beetroot. Mix with 4 tbsp vegan mayonnaise, 1Tsp wholegrain mustard and salt & pepper. Serves 6 as a side.

Orange: Carrot noodles with orange pepper strips and an orange dressing
Using a julienne peeler make carrot 'noodles' from two carrots and cut ½ orange pepper into strips, mix and sprinkle sesame seeds over the top. (I forgot to do this for the photo - I was far too hungry to even think about it). To make the orange dressing pour 100ml freshly squeezed orange juice into a clean jam jar. Add 1 Tbsp cider vinegar, 1 Tbsp rapeseed oil, ½ Tsp maple syrup and salt and pepper. Screw on the lid and shake to mix all the ingredients. Serves 4 as part of a rainbow salad.

Blue: Blueberry vinegar made into a blueberry salad dressing
Pour 300ml cider vinegar into a saucepan and add 250g blueberries and 1 Tbsp Agave Nectar. Squash the blueberries with  a potato masher so the skins split and bring to a steady simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes and pour into a clean sterilised jar and leave to cool. Store in the fridge over night then strain the vinegar into a clean jam jar and discard the blueberry pulp.
To make the dressing for the salad add 4Tbsp of the blueberry vinegar into a clean jam jar and add 3Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 Tsp light tahini and a pinch of herbamare. Screw on the lid and shake.