Seasonal Vegetable Salad (copycat North Italia)

This Seasonal Vegetable Salad recipe is what you’ll find at North Italia. It’s topped with delicious corn, roasted broccolini, avocado, and goat cheese and tossed with an Italian Herb vinaigrette. This salad might make you like vegetables!

We’re three weeks into the New Year. Can we still say ‘Happy New Year’ to people we haven’t seen yet? What’s an acceptable amount of time? Jokes aside, how are New Year’s Resolutions going if you set New Year’s Resolutions? As a dietitian, all the ‘diet’ gimmicks surface this time of year. I stand true to what I always recommend, not just around the New Year. Everyone can benefit from it: Eat more vegetables and increase fiber intake! Enter this seasonal vegetable salad, a copycat from North Italia restaurant, if you’re making resolutions.

Fiber is found in plants, so adding more plants to your meals will increase your fiber intake! Add beans to a salad, nuts/seeds to a yogurt bowl, or add a leafy green to a pasta dish. These additions increase your fiber intake throughout the day. Vegetables aren’t always everyone’s favorite. However, I’m a big believer that sometimes the veggies are just not prepared deliciously. Try a veggie three different ways and experiment with the flavors. Don’t eat something that doesn’t taste good! Remember, you can also get fiber from whole grains, nuts/seeds, and beans/legumes. This Seasonal Vegetable Salad is a mix of leafy greens, a whole grain, and a few other veggies thrown in. More importantly? It tastes delicious!

Focus on Fiber

When I first said, ‘Focus on fiber,’ it was probably well over ten years ago. Fiber is a powerhouse of nutritional benefits! It helps manage blood glucose levels, lowers cholesterol levels, keeps us fuller longer, and can help aid weight loss. More recent nutrition research has shown that fiber supports the microbiome by serving as food for beneficial gut bacteria, promoting their growth and activity. This helps maintain a healthy balance of gut microbes, aids digestion, and may reduce the risk of chronic diseases. This ongoing research is why nutrition is so fascinating (to me!). Fiber is where it’s at! With only 1 out of 10 people eating their fruits and vegetables daily, we need to look for other ways to incorporate fiber within our daily eating patterns.

Easy Way to Increase Fiber

1. Aim to choose whole grains. The goal is to make 1/2 of your grains 1/2. Opt for whole-grain bread or corn tortillas. Try other ‘new to you’ whole grains: quinoa, farro, barley, bulgur.
2. Eat More Beans. Beans are easy to add to dishes you already create and are also great for extending the dish. You can make chili and add beans there, or simply throw a few into your salad. Additionally, beans are great as dips and spread. Chickpeas are also great roasted. Keep trying beans/legumes in different forms to see what way is easiest for you to incorporate them!
3. Aim to eat more fruits and vegetables. Setting fruit out on your table is a great reminder to have some fruit throughout the day. Try a new vegetable each week as a way to explore how some vegetables can taste different in different forms, i.e., roasted, raw, pureed.
4. Snack Smart: include nuts/seeds, or popcorn for a snack rather than always going for chips or crackers (although these days there are whole grain crackers that taste delish!)
5. Go Nutty! You can always sprinkle a handful of nuts and/or seeds in throughout the day. Chia, flax, and/or hemp seeds are the easiest to add to salads, yogurt, or oatmeal!
6. Gradually Increase Fiber. Increase fiber-rich foods gradually to avoid gas and/or bloating as your digestive system adjusts.
7. Stay Hydrated. Equally important as you increase your fiber, increase your fluid intake to also avoid any GI distress!

Ingredients: Seasonal Vegetable Salad

• Lacinato Kale, or Dinosaur Kale, is best in this salad. Curly kale could be used; however, most stores here in Miami have curly kale already cut up and include a ton of ribs. You want more leaves and fewer ribs from the kale. Remember, the key to making the kale tender is to massage the salad dressing into the leaves. I want you to have a positive experience with kale!
• Romaine Lettuce: I also added some romaine lettuce to offset the kale and not have a salad with only kale. This, too, will help create a better experience of ‘liking’ the salad.
• Couscous: The recipe uses Israeli (pearl) couscous. Adding some gives it a slightly different texture in every bite.
• Corn: While I enjoyed this salad last May and am just now writing down the recipe, it’s understandable that corn may not be in season where you’re located. However, here in Florida, corn is in season! If you’ve never had raw corn, definitely give it a try. Sweet, in-season corn will add so much flavor to this salad!
• Broccolini: Roasting the broccolini will give it a slightly nutty flavor. If you don’t have time to do this, leave it out. North Italia also has asparagus in its salad, which I left out as it is also not in season at this time and quite expensive!
• Cherry Tomatoes: Also in season here in Florida, they taste out of this world right now!
• Nut/Cheese/Dried Fruit: To copy North Italia’s salad, they used pistachios, goat cheese, and golden raisins. These were added just as an accent and didn’t overpower the salad. You want just a little taste with each bite of the salad. And the nut/cheese/dried fruit combo you decide really does step any salad you make up in flavor!
• Italian Herb Vinaigrette: While not the exact dressing they used, this is as close as I could get!

How To Make Seasonal Vegetable Salad

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle a little olive oil over the broccolini. Bake for just 6-8 minutes (depending on the size).
2. Cook the couscous according to the package directions. (Lightly brown the couscous first, then after the water comes to a boil, you’ll cook the couscous for just 6-8 minutes).
3. Cut your romaine lettuce and kale, the corn from the cob, and halve or quarter your tomatoes.
4. Place the romaine lettuce and shredded kale in a mixing bowl. Add 1-2 tablespoons of Italian dressing and begin to massage the dressing into the kale and romaine leaves.
5. Add the remaining ingredients: tomatoes, corn, and broccolini. Toss all together.
6. Place on a serving dish. Top with a few pieces of avocado. Garnish the salad evenly with goat cheese, pistachios, and golden raisins.
7. Drizzle with a little more dressing. Eat and enjoy!

Other Delicious Vegetables

• Skillet Roasted Brussels
• Roasted Carrots – Garlic, Walnuts, and Goat Cheese
• Strawberry Spinach Salad
• Simple Lentil Salad

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