
Green Goddess Salad
After battening down the hatches to anything new on their dinner plates for the past few months, I’m sensing the kids might be about to open a window. Well, maybe not opening exactly. Maybe more like cracking. The problem is that they egg each other on at the table. Julian will have a fork almost to his mouth and if Esme says she doesn’t like the pasta sauce he will put it down. Working in our favour is Julian’s new favourite book, Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, about a little pea who prefers spinach to the candy he’s expected to eat for dinner. Thank you Amy Krouse Rosenthal for getting my two year old to chime, “Me love spinach!” Thank you so much. And Esme seems to be coming around again to trying new things.
So I’m acting fast and bringing back some of my own favourites. Like salad. How I’ve missed salads… Traditionalists among you will scan this recipe and feel like it cannot be a Green Goddess without tarragon. I hear you. But I just find tarragon so bossy. And looking at the way the Green Goddess has changed over the years I felt okay with tweaking it to my own liking. This salad also mimics one I have a couple of times a week from a cafe around the corner from the SPC office, Cafe Bernate. They call it a Verde and it’s hardy enough to get me through my typical 3 pm carb cravings. My version is really easy to make. Once you’ve steamed the asparagus all you have to do is some chopping and you’re done. For now we’re strictly a sauce on the side kind of house when it comes to the kids but I love the creamy, richness of this dressing. So worth the bit of effort to get beyond my usual balsamic and olive oil combo.
Photos by Maya Visnyei
Ingredients
- For the salad:
- 2 or 3 handfuls of Boston or Bibb lettuce
- 1/2 avocado
- 1/2 English cucumber
- 1/2 bunch (maybe 6 or 7 stalks) of asparagus
- 1 handful of cherry tomatoes
- 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
- For the dressing:
- 1/2 avocado
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 Tbsp chives, basil (you could use tarragon, dill, parsley, etc)
- 3 tsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp anchovy paste
- 1 cup scallions
Method
Put all of the dressing ingredients in a blender and whiz away
Have a taste and see if it needs a bit more buttermilk to thin it out or a splash more vinegar to brighten it up.
It's meant to be quite creamy but feel free to adjust it to your likeness.
Trim the tough ends off of your asparagus and steam them for 3 to 5 minutes.
Plunge them in cold or ice water to stop them from cooking — and to keep them super green — once they're just tender.
Wash and dry all of your other veggies.
Tear and arrange your lettuce on a large platter or on each plate — as you like.
Take your half, pitted avocado in one hand and score the flesh into cubes.
You can just use a table knife.
Then run your knife under the flesh to pop out the little squares of avocado.
Scatter them across the lettuce.
Cut up the asparagus into small pieces, about 2 inch lengths.
Toss those on.
Scatter the cucumber and tomatoes over your salad. Slightly dress the salad before covering in feta.
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