Seasonal Salads Around the World 2025 

4.4.7 Europe: U.K., Italy, Netherlands

In Search Of World's Hidden Tastes

4.4.7 Around Europe, Explore Seasonal Salads

European cuisine is a broad term encompassing the diverse culinary traditions of the continent's many countries. It is characterized by a variety of dishes, ingredients, and cooking styles that have evolved over centuries. Key aspects include the prominence of meat, dairy products, and wheat-flour bread, as well as regional specialties like pasta, pastries, and various types of cheese.

British cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices associated with the United Kingdom, including the regional cuisines of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. British cuisine has its roots in the cooking traditions of the indigenous Celts; however, it has been significantly influenced and shaped by subsequent waves of conquest, notably those of the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, and the Normans; waves of migration, notably immigrants from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, China, Italy, South Africa, and Eastern Europe, primarily Poland; and exposure to increasingly globalised trade and connections to the Anglosphere, particularly the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
Highlights and staples of British cuisine include the roast dinner, the full breakfast, shepherd's pie, toad in the hole, and fish and chips; and a variety of both savoury and sweet pies, cakes, tarts, and pastries. Foods influenced by immigrant populations and the British appreciation for spice have led to new curries being invented. Other traditional desserts include trifle, scones, apple pie, sticky toffee pudding, and Victoria sponge cake. British cuisine also includes a large variety of cheese, beer, ale, and stout, and cider.

Italian cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine consisting of the ingredients, recipes, and cooking techniques developed in Italy since Roman times, and later spread around the world together with waves of Italian diaspora. Significant changes occurred with the colonization of the Americas and the consequent introduction of potatoes, tomatoes, capsicums, and maize, as well as sugar beet—the latter introduced in quantity in the 18th century.
The Mediterranean diet forms the basis of Italian cuisine, rich in pasta, fish, fruits, and vegetables. Cheese, cold cuts, and wine are central to Italian cuisine, and along with pizza and coffee (especially espresso) form part of Italian gastronomic culture. Desserts have a long tradition of merging local flavours such as citrus fruits, pistachio, and almonds with sweet cheeses such as mascarpone and ricotta or exotic tastes as cocoa, vanilla, and cinnamon. Gelato, tiramisu, and cassata are among the most famous examples of Italian desserts, cakes, and patisserie. Italian cuisine relies heavily on traditional products; the country has a large number of traditional specialities protected under EU law. Italy is the world's largest producer of wine, as well as the country with the widest variety of indigenous grapevine varieties in the world.

Dutch cuisine is formed from the cooking traditions and practices of the Netherlands. The country's cuisine is shaped by its location on the fertile Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta at the North Sea, giving rise to fishing, farming, and overseas trade. Due to the availability of water and flat grassland, the Dutch diet contains many dairy products such as butter and cheese.
Dutch cuisine can traditionally be divided in three regions. The northeast of the country is known for its meats and sausages (rookworst, metworst) and heavy rye bread, the west for fish (smoked eel, soused herring, kibbeling, mussels), spirits (jenever) and dairy m-based products (stroopwafel, boerenkaas), and the south for stews (hachee), fruit products and pastry (Limburgse vlaai, apple butter, bossche bol). A peculiar characteristic for Dutch breakfast and lunch is the sweet bread toppings such as hagelslag, vlokken, and muisjes, and the Dutch are the highest consumers of liquorice in the world.

▲ Seasonal Salad 48：

English Garden Salad

 

English Garden Salad uses vegetables that are grown in the garden at home, such as rocket, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber. This salad is very refreshing.

The list of salad vegetables includes broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers, endive, escarole, green onions, lettuce, mushrooms, peas, bell peppers, chili peppers, radishes, romaine, spinach and tomatoes.

Ingredients
. 1 lb potato, unpeeled and sliced

. 1 Onion or green onion

. Arugula / rocket

. Red Lettuce Leaves

. Radishes, sliced
. 2⁄3 lb green beans, cut
. 1⁄2 cucumber, sliced thin
. 4 ounces cheese (Cheshire/Lancashire Cheese) , in cubes

. 1 1⁄2 ounces tomotoes or sun-dried tomatoes, soaked and chopped

. 1⁄4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
. 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
. 1 tablespoon mustard
. 1 tablespoon honey

Sauce: honey, mustard, mayonnaise, salt, sugar, black pepper

Directions
1. Cook the potatoes 20 minutes in a large pan with enough water to cover; add the beans and cook 5 minutes more.
2. Remove to a large bowl.
3. Add the onions, cucumber, rocket, lettuce, radishes, half of the cheese and tomatoes to the potatoes and the beans and toss the salad.
4. Mix the mayonnaise, mustard and honey and pour over the salad.
5. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and mint leaves. Add a little salt, sugar and pepper if you wish.
6. Serve and enjoy!

▲ Seasonal Salad 49：

caponata di melanzane

Sicilian Eggplant Salad

"Melanzane" is the Italian word for eggplants, so this dish is called "caponata di melanzane" in Italian. It is from Sicily, Italy, a sweet-and-sour salad of cooked eggplant cubes, onions, crushed fresh tomatoes and garlic, tossed with black and green olives and some basil. Some recipes call for celery, peppers and capers.

Ingredients

. 2 pounds eggplants 
. 2 ½ pounds fresh tomatoes (about 10 Roma tomatoes)

. 1 stalk celery, cut in cubes
. 1 cup chopped sweet onion (from about half of a large onion)
. 2 garlic cloves
. 1 cup olive oil
. ⅓ cup Balsamic vinegar
. 12 ounces black olives (sliced & drained; buy them sliced to save time)
· 7 ounces capers

· 2 tablespoons sugar

· 5-6 fresh basil leaves or 2 teaspoons dried basil
· ½ teaspoon salt
· ⅓ teaspoon black pepper

. Red bell peper  sliced, garnish

Instructions
1. Use a peeler to remove the skin from the tomatoes. For each tomato, cut a circle around the core to remove it, then cut the tomato in half. Cut each half in half again. Squeeze the tomato quarters gently to loosen the seeds and scrape them out with a knife.
2. Squeeze out the liquid from the tomato pieces and set them in a drainer. Pat them dry with a paper towel before adding to the caponata.
3. Rinse the eggplants. Cut off the root and stem ends. Peel the skin. Cut each eggplant in half lengthwise, then in half again lengthwise. If they're still very thick, you can cut them in half again. Cut the eggplant horizontally into cubes about 1.5 inches thick. (Or make them smaller for a spreadable relish.)
4. Chop the onion and garlic. Heat oil in a large skillet on medium high. Add the onions to the pan and cook for a couple minutes, then add the garlic. Cook until the onions are soft. Do not let the garlic burn.
5. Add the eggplant cubes to the pan and stir them in with the onions and garlic. Cook for about 6 minutes. Snip the basil into pieces and add them to the pan. Stir in black pepper and salt.
6. Add the tomatoes and vinegar to the pan and stir briefly. Put the heat on medium and cook for 15 minutes uncovered, stirring periodically as needed to prevent sticking.
7. While the caponata is cooking, drain the olives and dry them on paper towels. When the caponatina is finished cooking, remove the pan from the heat. Add the olives, capers, celery and sugar to the eggplants. Stir to combine.
8. Place the caponata in a serving bowl, cover it and refrigerate it, ideally overnight. Before serving, stir the caponatina and taste to see if it needs any salt. Be sure to try it with the olives, which will add a salty flavor. Serve cold or at room temperature as a side dish or on crostini for an appetizer. Use a slotted spoon to scoop it out of the bowl.
9. Store leftovers in the refrigerator, covered tightly, for up to five days. But do not freeze it.

▲ Seasonal Salad 50：

Dutch Coleslaw Salad

Coleslaw or cole slaw (from the Dutch term koolsla, meaning 'cabbage salad'), also widely known within North America simply as slaw, is a side dish consisting primarily of finely shredded raw cabbage with a salad dressing or condiment, commonly either vinaigrette or mayonnaise. This dish originated in the Netherlands in the 18th century. Coleslaw prepared with vinaigrette may benefit from the long lifespan granted by pickling.

Coleslaw has evolved into various forms globally. The only consistent ingredient in coleslaw is raw cabbage, while other ingredients and dressings vary widely. Some popular variations include adding red cabbage, pepper, shredded carrots, onions, grated cheese, pineapple, pears, or apples, and using dressings like mayonnaise or cream.

Ingredients

. 3 cups cabbage (red, green) , finely chopped

Vinaigrette：

. 1⁄4 cup vinegar
. 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
. 1 teaspoon salt
.1 tablespoon sugar
. 1⁄2 teaspoon dry mustard
. 1 tablespoon butter
. 1 egg, slightly beaten
. 2 tablespoons cream

Directions
1. Combine the first six Vinaigarette ingredients in saucepan and heat to boiling .
2. Add some hot mixture to egg and add back into mixture.
3. Cook until it thickens. Take from heat and beat in cream.
4. Pour (while hot) over finely chopped cabbage.
5. Chill and serve.

Next, Seasonal Salad Around the World 2025

4.5.7 Europe:  France, Spain, Portugal

Publisher： Chef Kar Delight