Greenhouse Vegetable Salad Guide: Dressings & Flavour Pairings

Thanks to advanced greenhouse technology, Ontarians have access to fresh, ripe greenhouse grown vegetables year round. However, summer is really their time to shine as it happens to also be salad season. Cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes make perfect salad ingredients, and the flavour combinations and salad options are endless. 

As long as your ingredients are fresh, you can’t really go wrong with whatever you add to your salad. However, some traditional pairings are classics for a reason because some things are just a flavour match made in heaven.

Sweet bell peppers pair well with many things and are a versatile salad ingredient. They go well with onions, tomatoes, zucchinis, potatoes, and pasta, making them the perfect addition to any potato, pasta or green salad. Add some feta or goat cheese to really elevate the flavour. And for salad dressing ideas you can’t go wrong with some combination of basil, garlic, lemon, oregano, thyme, olive oil, balsamic or wine vinegars. 

Here are some salads featuring peppers to try:

Beefsteak, roma, cherry, grape, or Campari – there are many tomato varieties, and they are all salad worthy. Regardless of the variety, tomatoes pair well with just about everything, but they really shine when combined with traditional Italian or Mediterranean flavours. Think oregano, capers, basil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, olive oil, bocconcini, burrata or fresh mozzarella cheese for classic Italian flavour pairings. And olives, feta cheese, cucumbers, lemon, and parsley for classic Mediterranean pairings. Beyond that tomatoes also go well with parmesan, bacon, avocado, strawberries, chickpeas, and watermelon for an endless array of salad combinations. 

Here are some salads featuring tomatoes to try:

Cucumbers can be paired with an infinite variety of salad ingredients. For produce, try pairing them with avocado, beets, peppers, cabbage, capers, carrots, celery, citrus, endive, fennel, olives, peas, radishes, romaine lettuce, mixed greens, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes, and watermelon. For salad dressings try using basil, cilantro, dill, garlic, ginger, mint, mustard, oregano, paprika, tarragon, thyme, turmeric or za’atar. And for even more flavours, try adding almonds, goat or feta cheese, quinoa, sesame seeds, or other grains (like farro, bulgur or barley).

Some very classic cucumber flavour combinations are dill & yogurt, sugar & rice vinegar, garlic & vinegar, or feta, tomato, oil, red wine vinegar & oregano.

Here are some salads featuring cucumbers to try:

Look for Ontario greenhouse vegetables at your local grocery store or farmers market this summer. Experiment with some of the suggested flavour pairings to create your own colourful, delicious salads and salad dressings, or try some of the included recipes for a summer full of flavour.