November may be over, but the grey skies and landscapes remain, and our days continue to dwindle to what seems like precious few hours of light. Today is the meteorological beginning of winter, the three coldest months of the calendar year. We always question if we are ready for it, but it definitely is an emotional shift. I often think of winter as a time to catch up on projects, although I’m usually optimistic about how many I’ll actually accomplish. I have a cookbook nearly done, a quilt that is pieced but not put together yet to start quilting, some other writing projects, and tasks around the house I’ve put off for too long. I have a list, and I’ll probably spend some time making more lists, starting with the seed catalogues which are already arriving. Although I do love sitting by the fire, it’s hard to get too excited about being outside when the sun hasn’t shone for days. The dogs urge me on.
Let’s hang some twinkling lights
There’s always a bright spot! We are seeing more and more holiday lights boosting the mood around our villages with lots of colorful twinkles. Some snow fell many places over the weekend, that usually helps, but our little area of Vermont escaped the white again. It’s coming though, we can smell it in the air, and our temperatures have climbed during the day to only a degree or two above freezing. Time to dig out the flannel-lined jeans for our daily walk. Our snow shovels stand guard, alongside the salt for the walkway, and our reflecting driveway markers have been put in place for the plow truck.
Lots of color to be found
While much of our grass is still green, and stubborn leaves remain on the roses, we need color, but we’ll have to turn to inside the house to satisfy. Our plates are a good place to start. While summer vegetables and fruits are long gone, we have more than enough color in our winter produce, and vibrant they are. Purple cabbage, orange carrots, blue potatoes, ruby red and candy-striped beets, purple and bright pink radishes, yellow squashes. Rainbow chard, rainbow carrots, that’s the trend. The other day, I even found purple and orange cauliflowers! A whole rainbow to delight. Some of these colors are so bright, you almost need sunglasses.
Even more nutrition
The good news is that the more colorful the vegetable, the higher the mineral content, so keep this in mind if there is a choice. No one’s going to argue with a bit more nutrition. Purple potatoes have more antioxidants than white, but the biggest star of all is the purple sweet potato. Keep on the lookout.
A little of this and that
After our recent Thanksgiving feast, I thought it might be nice to make a brilliantly colored salad for lunch, refreshing and full of crunch. I still have deep purple kale in my garden beds, and rainbow chard I forgot to pick for the Thanksgiving table. With everything else, it wasn’t missed at all, and I’m glad to be able to still harvest it. I did remember to harvest my one remaining Brussels sprout stalk, the sprouts a little smaller than usual because of the drought, but sweet and delicious they were.
Bright and beautiful
We’re finding lots of colorful winter radishes as well: the bright pink watermelon radish, deep purple Daikon, and even the very peppery black Spanish radishes. These keep for weeks in the refrigerator, ready to add color and crunch to any salad. By February, I’ll tire of them, but for now, they are once again unique and delightful to behold, and they definitely lift the spirits.
What have you got on hand?
You can add or subtract to this salad as your heart dictates, and I hardly even think of this as a recipe. Use what you’ve got, just try to include as many colors as possible. The dressing is the only thing I keep consistent because it is quite light and refreshing; who doesn’t love the bright flavor of oranges at the beginning of winter. It tastes like its own kind of sunshine, and the little pops from the Clementines, or any other orange for that matter, really are my favorite part of this salad.
Wait a minute! The sun just came out! That’s better. We might be getting some snow squalls later, but for right now, all is well in the world, and I really do need to get out my shades, bring those fur babies for their walk.
Winter Rainbow Salad with Orange Paprika Dressing
Ingredients:
- 1 bulb celeriac, cut into little sticks
- ¼ head purple cabbage, shredded
- 1 fennel bulb, or celery, sliced into sticks
- 1 large carrot, blanched, cut into strips
- 3 or 4 watermelon or other colorful radish, cut into strips
- ½ purple onion, sliced
- 1 small sweet pepper, small dice
- 1 clementine, segmented
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
Dressing:
- Zest of one orange
- 1 tsp. fennel seeds, crushed
- 1 tsp. sweet Hungarian paprika
- ¼ cup fresh orange juice
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp. honey
- Salt and pepper
Garnish:
- ¼ cup peanuts, pecans, or other nut, rough chop, more radishes
The only cooking is blanching the carrot, just for a minute or two in boiling water to soften just a bit. Prep all the vegetables, cutting into sticks or chopped as your spirit guides you, you don’t have to prepare this exactly as I have. You can even shred some of the vegetables, and add or subtract others if you like.
Combine all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake well.
Toss all the vegetables in a large bowl, add the dressing, and mix it up well. Serve on a bed of more cabbage and garnish with the peanuts and more radishes, some little clementine segments if you have them. This keeps really well, so think lunch the next day.
© Copyright 2025– or current year, The New Vintage Kitchen. Dorothy Grover-Read. Unattributed use of this material and photographs is strictly prohibited. Reposting and links may be used, provided that credit is given to The New Vintage Kitchen, with active link and direction to this original post.
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“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and a talk before the fire; it is the time for home.” ~ Edith Sitwell
Pretty!
Thanks, that was what I was aiming for!
Thank you, Dorothy, for the salad that I like and have every day in various combination.
Joanna
It is really a vibrant bowl of nutrition and good old fiber!
I’m sure your salad is as tasty as it is colorful.
Thank you! So good!
Your two salads are a work of art, both colorful and delicious! I’m ready to drizzle the orange paprika dressing and dive in!!
It will perk anyone up! Thanks for stopping by!
I want to try your orange paprika dressing. That looks perfect!
Thanks Mary! It’s so light and refreshing!
Look great!
Thank you so much!!!
Gorgeous salad and your sprout stalk was impressive!
The sprouts were small, but bountiful!
Color my world. 🍃🌎
I have my paint brush ready!
Your food plating is a masterpiece already. 👏
Ah, thanks!
OMG – that photo of you with the Brussels Sprouts stack – that beauty will surely go right into my file for keeps 🙂 ! Love the bright and somewhat different wintery salads – those recipes will be very much kept also – thank you!
Thank you Eha! It was my last surviving Brussels sprout stalk, and although small, they were really sweet!
Oh wow what a zesty sounding dressing saved to try…I so miss buying my sprout still on the stalk…lucky you 🙂 x
I only planted four this year, and my naughty dog ate three of them!
Oh dear you will have to plant more next year or put a fence round them or something .
He was staying outside a little too long, and I caught him with his head in the garden bed, licking his chops!
Ahhhhh not his fault then…bless him 🐶
The dressing does sound fabulous! I also really like the photo of you and your Brussels sprout stalk, island hair, island shirt, and of course, standing in front of that gorgeous tile and cooker.
I was in the middle of so much cooking, I grabbed the first shirt sleeve blouse I could grab! Appropriate since I always think the sprout stalk looks a bit like a palm tree!
As for the hair, if always looks kind of wild!
I hope the sun stayed out long enough for the doggie to get a walk. Lovely, yummy salad, Dorothy and it sounds very exciting about your upcoming cookbook. You must tell me more.
Thank you!
The cookbook is a long labor of love. I’ve compiled all the recipes and have written each season’s intro. But now I need to sift through and edit down because it’s a bit too long! That’s my winter task!
Oooh. Editing down is the hard part. Well, if you are anything like me. It would be hard to choose which ones to delete.
Yes, like throwing out one of your babies!
Indeed!
This looks really good, but a bit strange from my current vantage point (Thailand, sunny and 90 degrees).
Yes, we are definitely in opposite climates right now! Enjoy those wonderful exotic foods, it’s snowing here right now!
Fabulous salad, Dorothy – thank goodness it’s dinner time – your pics have me primed and ready to eat…
Then I’ve done my job my dear! 😌
Sunshine on a plate, the best winter food!
Thank you Karen! And with the oranges, it tastes sunny too!
The perfect antidote for grey days (it’s non-stop gloomy wet weather here at the moment), so much colour and crunch full of joy! I love the idea of fennel and orange as a flavour combination. Enjoy your winter projects, they sound wonderful. 😊
Well, it’s snowing this morning as predicted, so everything outside will be nice and bright!
That salad is so colorful it just makes me smile, and that dressing sound amazing.
Thank you! It really does liven up the table!
Nice! I really love the dressing! You’re writing a book?! Perhaps a cookbook?!!! Your writing is excellent.
Thanks Mimi! I’ve written two self-published cookbooks in the past, my family’s favorite recipes and a cookbook of my inn recipes I sold to guests. Nothing I distributed elsewhere. I’m compiling my recipes into a seasonally organized cook book, and have got most of the first draft done. Now I need to whittle down a little bit because it is too long!!!!
Such a delicious looking salad! Yum!
Thank you! It goes well with the white that is now falling!
Gorgeous salad and I love the colours!
Thank you so much!
Oh, that looks sooooo good, and it’s crunchy, too. I will be right over.
I also left a comment on your “This is How I Cook Page.” I hope you can read it.
I will definitely check it out!
That is one impressive stalk of Brussel sprouts! I grew it one year and maybe had ten small ones?
Well, mine weren’t big, but they were plentiful and most delicious!
Mine were an experiment…..which failed!
You should try again some time! They are pretty to look at.
Seasonal eats are so good. The other day, carrots & beets were roasted w/ a homemade catalina dressing w/ ginger. So delicious. First, we eat w/ our eyes. Your salad is a feast for the eyes.
Thank you so much! The carrots sound wonderful, alway delightful with ginger in my book!
I never knew food that has more color has more minerals. Such beautiful colors for winter crops. How exciting your cookbook is almost finished.
Still a long road ahead!
I love the vibrant color in this salad–it looks and sounds delicious! 🙂
Thank you Nancy! We need it this time of year!
Hi Dorothy, gosh, your weather is cold. Your salad looks wonderful and colourful.
Thank you!
We have a new blanket of snow, so everything is bright!
The salad looks fab and the zesty dressing as well! Hope you are keeping cosy while the snow blankets the landscape. :))
Yes, we are! Thank you for asking. Woke up yesterday to 2degrees F. Lots of white, and more snow tomorrow.
How about you?
Help I can not find your Facebook or Instagram accts 🙁
My Facebook is Dorothy GroverRead, no hyphen in last name.
We sure do need color I am already sick of white and dirty white. 🙂 Love this colorful mix. I have been buying chopped cabbage type of salads in a bag lately then I jazz them up. Just bought my first jar of Chili Crisp what was I thinking I never use hot sauce but do love some heat in my salsa and cranberry sauce 🙂
I like a little heat, my husband not so much chili heat, but he loves wasabi.
Never tried that.