Early season shares - salad bowl goodness!
Hey everyone - my husband Chris and I have been Burning River Farm members for a few years now and I'm going to be helping Mike by posting recipes, offering tips for preserving and storing vegetables when they just can't all be eaten, and leaving other - hopefully helpful! - tidbits about enjoying the bounty from our CSA shares. I teach cooking lessons from my home and at metro co-ops focusing on vegetarian, vegan and raw foods so I'll be sharing some of my favorite recipes here. Feel free to leave feedback - we'd love to hear from you!
Our first weeks of shares have featured the best of what is available right now - limitless greens for the salad bowl and stir fry. Chris and I love to have big, main dish salads throughout the summer - we love the vitamins, minerals and cleansing enzymes that come with eating our greens in the raw. To compliment salads with dark leafy greens, I make salad dressings that are creamy and full of herbs to add yin to the yang of bitter flavors. Here's the added bonus - salad dressings with healthy fats help you absorb and use the A vitamins that are abundant in your dark leafy greens!
Anna's Meal in a Salad Bowl for Two
mixed greens - spinach, arugula, bok choy, curly endive - washed, dried and torn into pieces
1/8 cup sprinkle of raisins
1/8 cup sprinkle of raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas) and raw sunflower seeds
sliced radishes and turnips
one apple, chopped
handful of fresh herbs, torn - basil, parsley, tarragon
tahini or yogurt herb dressing (see below)
Yogurt Herb Dressing
In the bowl of a food processor or blender, combine:
1 cup whole milk yogurt (preferably organic)
juice of 1/2 lemon
big pinch salt
freshly cracked pepper
handful of fresh herbs, rinsed and shaken dry (basil, oregano, tarragon, dill, parsley)
Blend until the herbs are fully chopped. Use generously on a fresh salad!
Tahini-Garlic Salad Dressing
makes 8–10 servings
1 cup organic sesame tahini
1 cup filtered water
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon fresh parsley
1 tablespoon fresh basil
2 teaspoon fresh oregano
1 1/2 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon sweet onion, chopped
1/4 cup organic lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 tsp. salt
Combine all ingredients in a blender. Add to any fresh salad - especially raw kale salads, or omit most or all of the water to make a dip for fresh vegetables.