Beat high blood pressure with this roast beef salad

This family-style salad is packed with vitamins, minerals and fibre. If you're looking for a blood-pressure friendly meal option, give this recipe a try.

Preparation time about 1 hour; Serves 4

Salad

Ingredients:

• 500 g (1 lb) cooked roast beef, cubed into 1-cm (2.5-inch) pieces
• 125 g (1/2 c) rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) snipped fresh chives
• 250 g (1 c) basmati rice, rinsed
• 1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
• 1 carrot, coarsely grated
• 1 zucchini, coarsely grated
• 75 g (3 oz) button mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 60 ml (4 tbsp) chopped parsley
• Radicchio or other salad leaves (optional)

Dressing

Ingredients:

• 7 ml (1 1/2 tsp) dry mustard
• 2 ml (1/2 tsp) sugar
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) cider vinegar
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) olive oil
• Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. First make the dressing. Put the dry mustard and sugar in a large mixing bowl and stir in the vinegar until smooth. Whisk in the oil until thoroughly blended. Season with pepper to taste
2. Add the beef, sun-dried tomatoes, scallions and chives to the bowl and stir to coat all the ingredients with the dressing. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (or up to 8 hours)
3. Meanwhile, cook the rice in a pot of boiling water until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain well and spread out on a tray to cool completely
4. When the rice is cool, transfer it to a bowl and stir in the celery, carrot, zucchini, mushrooms and parsley. Cover and chill until needed
5. About 10 minutes before serving, remove the marinated beef and the rice salad from the refrigerator. If you like, line 4 plates with radicchio or other salad leaves. Add the marinated beef mixture to the rice salad and gently stir together until well mixed. Spoon onto the bed of leaves and serve

Chicken, Peach and Rice Salad:

• Use cubes of cooked chicken instead of beef, replace the sun-dried tomatoes and onions with 2 sliced peaches, and replace the chives with chopped parsley
• In the rice salad, instead of the celery, carrot, zucchini and mushrooms, use 250 grams (1 cup) corn kernels, 2 thinly sliced leeks and 250 grams (1 cup) chopped fennel
• For extra texture and healthiness, add alfalfa sprouts

Beef is now much leaner than it used to be. Cuts of beef, such as top round, can contain less than 3 percent fat.

Each serving provides:

Key nutrients:

• 500 Calories
• 160 Calories from Fat
• 18 g Fat
• 4 g Saturated Fat
• 0 g Trans Fat
• 31 g Protein
• 57 g Carb
• 4 g Fibre
• 95 mg Sodium

Blood pressure nutrients:

• 17 mg Vitamin C
• 52 mg Magnesium
• 773 mg Potassium
• 61 mg Calcium

This healthy and satisfying salad is an excellent way of using up leftover roast beef, and the vegetables can be varied to suit all tastes. It makes a hearty meal in itself.