This watercress salad recipe is a lightweight, recent spring aspect dish. It is full of crisp veggies, creamy avocado, and a vivid champagne French dressing.
Should you want a last-minute aspect dish for Mom’s Day, I believe this watercress salad can be good. It’s precisely the form of dish I wish to serve at an important day meal. Gentle and refreshing, it offers a welcome distinction to heartier fare like cinnamon rolls (at brunch) or a saucy, tacky lasagna (at dinner). And whereas it’s easy to make, it’s a bit extra sudden than a daily inexperienced salad. The watercress offers it a peppery chunk, which I tame with candy, juicy orange segments and a vivid champagne French dressing. Mozzarella and avocado add creamy richness, and toasted pistachios and crisp spring veggies carry loads of crunch.
This watercress salad is finest proper after it’s assembled, however you may nonetheless do among the prep prematurely. Make the dressing right now, and blanch the snap peas. Tomorrow, it’ll be a breeze to place collectively!
Watercress Salad Recipe Elements
Right here’s what you must make this watercress salad recipe:
- Watercress, in fact! Should you’ve by no means tried it, it has a definite peppery style and wonderful delicate texture. Should you can’t discover watercress, make this salad with recent arugula or combined salad greens as a substitute.
- Snap peas and fennel – For crunch! Additionally they add their distinctive flavors to the salad. The fennel brings notes of anise, whereas the snap peas add an earthy sweetness.
- Orange segments – Their sweetness cuts the watercress’s chunk.
- Avocado and recent mozzarella – I like how these wealthy, creamy elements play off the recent spring veggies.
- Toasted pistachios – For (extra) crunch and nutty taste.
- Champagne French dressing – I make this straightforward dressing with olive oil, recent orange juice, Dijon mustard, and champagne vinegar. It brings the salad collectively, including tangy, fruity taste.
- A lemon wedge – Squeeze it over the salad for a pleasant vivid end.
- And salt and pepper – To make all of the flavors pop!
Discover the whole recipe with measurements under.
So recent! The tender inexperienced leaves are good for spring.
Watercress Salad Serving Strategies
Serve this watercress salad as a aspect dish for a spring dinner or brunch. For dinner, it pairs properly with this asparagus risotto, creamy mushroom polenta, or a bowl of potato leek soup. It additionally goes nicely with these pasta recipes:
For brunch, serve it with one thing savory, like a frittata or breakfast casserole. Then, spherical out the meal with one thing candy. Pancakes, muffins, and scones would all be scrumptious.
Take pleasure in!
Extra Favourite Salad Recipes
Should you love this watercress salad recipe, attempt one in all these recent salads subsequent:
Watercress Salad
Serves 4
This watercress salad is a recent, scrumptious aspect dish! The intense French dressing and the candy orange segments tame the watercress’s peppery chunk.
- 4 ounces snap peas
- 1 fennel bulb, very thinly sliced on a mandoline
- Champagne French dressing
- 3 cups watercress
- Segments from ½ navel orange
- 1 ripe avocado, sliced
- 2 ounces torn recent mozzarella
- 2 tablespoons toasted pistachios
- Sea salt and freshly floor black pepper
- Lemon wedge, for serving
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Deliver a big pot of salted water to a boil and set a bowl of ice water close by. Drop the snap peas into the boiling water and blanch for two minutes. Take away the snap peas and instantly immerse within the ice water lengthy sufficient to chill fully, about 15 seconds. Drain and place on a kitchen towel or paper towels to dry.
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In a small bowl, mix the sliced fennel with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the dressing and a pinch of salt. Gently toss to coat.
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Assemble the salad on a platter with the watercress, fennel, snap peas, orange segments, avocado, and mozzarella. Drizzle with among the dressing and prime with the pistachios. Season to style with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon, and serve.
