Vegetarian Salads
and Dressings

Long before I began to think about vegetarian salads, when I was a small boy, salad was something that we had in the summer and was mostly lettuce.

Now salad is a year round possibility and there are lots of salad recipes that don't need lettuce. Waldorf Salad, for example, is apple, celery and walnuts with mayonnaise. The ideal salad for autumn, when apples are plentiful and walnuts are fresh. Not a lettuce leaf in sight, but you could serve it on a bed of lettuce leaves if you insist!

By contrast, Caesar salad is lettuce and croutons with its special mayonnaise that has a tang of anchovy.

In the years since I was a boy I have eaten an enormous variety of salads and almost all of them have included some kind of salad dressing, either vinaigrette or a mayonnaise.

Both of these are acceptable to vegetarians but vegans and pregnant mums will not like the raw egg content of mayonnaise. The risk of salmonella from raw egg is small but real so we tried a few ideas and came up with an eggless mayonnaise.

A complete contrast is our next recipe, based on eggs. This Tomato and Egg salad recipe is quick and easy to make and we think it tastes delicious. Another favourite of ours is Cheese and Onion Egg Salad , another variation on the theme of egg salads. A third Egg Salad Recipe has sweet pickle to provide the tang. This is just as easy to make as the others.

If you want a salad to make a light meal in itself then why not try our Pasta Salad Recipe. You could add pinenuts or some other nuts to make it even more substantial but we like it the way it is written down.

Vegetarian Salads not for you? Click here for other ideas.