The Woolgrowers Restaurant in Bakersfield, California, served as the inspiration for this dish. One of the many appetizers they offer is remarkably similar to this salad and is practical to keep in the refrigerator. It is excellent and closely resembles my idea.
| Prep Time: | 40 mins |
| Additional Time: | 4 hrs |
| Total Time: | 4 hrs 40 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 3 medium fresh tomatoes – cored, quartered, and sliced as thin as possible
- 1 large cucumber – peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced
- 1 Spanish onion – peeled, cut in half, and thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
- ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon dried basil
- ¼ teaspoon dried marjoram
- chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- In a large bowl, toss together the green, red, and yellow peppers with the tomatoes, cucumber, and onion.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar. Whisk in oregano, basil, and marjoram. Continue whisking until ingredients are well blended and the oil and vinegar are emulsified.
- Pour dressing over vegetables, and toss gently with a wooden spoon. Cover, and marinate at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours, stirring frequently. Refrigerate until 1 hour before serving; then remove from the refrigerator, and let sit at room temperature. Garnish with chopped parsley.
Reviews
I have made this twice… the first time as the recipe stated and the second time I used red onion and pickled the onion. Definitely more flavorful the second time!
I love the beauty of all of the summer vegies called for in this recipe when combined. Followed exactly except for adding garlic to dressing and cutting oil in half. It was wonderful!
I love this salad in the summer! Next time I will reduce the amount of olive oil and red wine vinegar a bit.
I made this with a tapas meal, went perfectly. Great summer salad!
Thank you for posting this. This is very much like I remember from Woolgrowers when I was young. I’ll be making it again.
Made this for Christmas dinner. The veggies were of course great, seasoning a little off, however, for “our” liking I had to reduce the oregano a bit, used Stevia in place of the regular sugar (dietary reasons) and it was better. Still most of the family didn’t care for the dressing 🙁
Love this recipe made as is. I have eaten at the Basque restaurants in Bakersfield, Ca since the 1950s. This reminds me of their salads. I will make again and again.
i was looking for a nice light side to go with our dinner and found this.. i ended up doubling the cucumber and tomatoes as i didn’t have any red or yellow bell peppers.. i cut the olive oil in half but still felt the dressing was a little heavy.. i think i’m just used to low fat dressings.. i’m making this again today and cut the olive oil to a quarter and am much happier with the dressing.. had to use a combo of balsamic vinegar and apple cider vinegar as i ran out of red wine vinegar yesterday.. it still worked! i’m looking forward to making this with the full amount of bell peppers.. ty for the recipe
Wonderful recipe. I did the opposite of some reviewers, and I left the vinegar/oil just how the author of the recipe suggested, however, after adding the seasonings and tasting, I decided to double those. I will be making again.
Loved it after a few changes….added one can of back olives and 1 small jar marinated artichokes drained and chopped… I also used a red onion. Did not do the dressing as instructed because other reviewers said it was too much and bland….I did 2 tbs vinegar, 6 tbs olive oil, 1-2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 tsp (salt free) garlic and herb seasoning, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 tsp dried basil and salt and pepper to taste. Dressing was the perfect amount after those changes. Veggie lovers will love this salad. Now it is a keeper.
Delicious! Used less oil as other reviewers recommended. Otherwise, followed exactly. This is a recipe I will use again.
I followed the recipe loosely, using it as a general guideline to suit my own taste and in consideration of the ingredients I either had available or wanted to make a point of using. I used red, yellow and orange bell peppers, sliced red onion for color and NO tomato – didn’t have it, but wouldn’t have used it anyway. I was fairly satisfied with the look of the salad, but thought it needed some “punch.” A handful of ripe black olives took care of that. As for the dressing, I merely shook on some salt, pepper, oregano and basil (didn’t have marjoram and never have). I skipped the sugar – I don’t care for it in my salad dressings. I drizzled on the vinegar (always vinegar first) and then the olive oil to my liking. (My preference is a ratio of 3:1 of olive oil to vinegar) This salad satisfied both my goals of cleaning up the odds and ends in my vegetable crisper lickety-split as well as being a nutritious, fresh and colorful addition to our dinner tonight. I particularly like the simple herb vinaigrette and the submitter’s directions to THINLY SLICE the vegetables (as opposed to chopping them all up as others have done) – it gave the salad a beautiful appearance, with each ingredient seeming to take center stage. I can’t think of too many entrees that this salad wouldn’t complement nicely.
Marinating it overnight is the best way to do it
This salad reminds me a salad that is very popular in Russia, and dressing is delicious
I really enjoyed this salad, it’s beautiful to look at and the dressing is quite tasty. This is definitely a salad for summertime, and it can go with a lot of different entrees. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Love it. Being from Bakersfield & now living in TX, anything from Woolgrowers is a hit for me!
Excellent salad! Great with garden tomatoes.
Other than chopping all the vegies rather than slicing, and using a red onion, I kept this recipe as written – and I love it! The dressing is zesty and fresh, and all the vegies compliment each other well. Its my first attempt at a salad with more than just tomato and lettuce, and I am so glad I tried it! Thanks!
This is delicious and very versatile. You could probably substitute with other veggies if needed. I added hot pepper just to give it a bit of heat for our tastes.
absolutely delicious and I love that this salad is open for any of your own tweaking.
I hoped this would be tasty because it contains such a lively and tasty mix of vegetable, but the dressing with this recipe is awful. The amount of dressing was completely disproportionate to the salad–way too much. Also, the dressing itself was much too oily and bland. Next time, I will definitely use a different dressing with the solid vegetable premise.