I made this colorful, crunchy salad on the fly on Memorial Day when the grocery stores were closed for the holiday, and my parents, siblings, and out-of-town cousin were on their way over for dinner. I wanted a salad but only had asparagus, broccolini, scallions, and radishes from Cedar Circle Farm, plus a few carrots in the fridge and herbs in the garden. And thus, this salad put itself together with a little thoughtful slicing and a lemon dressing.
Thoughtful slicing? By that, I mean thinking about the best way to slice each vegetable to make the salad both beautiful AND to make each bite make sense in your mouth.
For example, radishes are pungent and spicy, so I sliced some of them into paper-thin rounds and the rest into thin wedges – both shapes ensure a huge chunk of radish won’t ruin a bite.
Similarly, raw carrots are great, but I don’t love them shredded, and neither do I want huge carrot sticks. So I cut them in thin, irregular slices on the diagonal that are easy to pick up with a fork without too much crunching and drama. I prefer my broccoli cooked, so I did that before slicing it into long strips.
You get the idea. Give each vegetable a moment of thought to optimize its good qualities and make it pretty and easy to eat. Mix up colors and flavors, shapes and textures.
You can make this salad with any spring vegetable you like eating. Keep a vegetable raw if it tastes good raw (like scallions, kohlrabi, peas, and radishes). Briefly steam, saute, or roast it if it’s better cooked (like broccoli, fiddleheads, or bok choy) and then cool before adding. Don’t forget the fresh herbs! I mixed dill, cilantro, basil, and marjoram, all from my backyard. In my opinion, any combination of fresh herbs is good in a salad.
(I used a lemon dressing, but you can use any dressing you have and like. Optional additions are grated, crumbled, or shaved cheese of your choosing, a cooked grain or pasta, beans, or chicken.)
–Bethany Fleishman
Here’s my recipe; adapt as needed:
Spring Salad Made From Anything
Ingredients
- one bunch asparagus – kept raw and shaved into ribbons with a peeler (or if you prefer it cooked, steam, cool, and slice)
- 4-6 radishes, some thinly sliced into rounds, the rest sliced into thin wedges (you can keep the root and a little of the green intact)
- 3-5 scallions, white and green parts, sliced thinly on the diagonal (extra pretty that way)
- 2-4 carrots, sliced into thin and irregular spears on the diagonal
- 2-3 stalks broccolini or one head of broccoli, briefly steamed, cooled, then sliced into long thin pieces
- a handful of fresh herbs – basil, cilantro, parsley, marjoram, dill, chives, etc.
- salt
- Mix everything together in a salad bowl with a little salt (these vegetable chunks will soak up more salt than a plain salad of greens, so don’t be shy with the salt).
- Make a lemon vinaigrette with:
- half a lemon, juice & grated rind
- one clove garlic, sliced, mashed, or grated
- salt & pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Whisk this all together until smooth and creamy. Toss with the salad and serve immediately.
*Also on the family Memorial day supper menu:
– delicious juicy hamburgers with beef from Back Beyond Farm in Chelsea, Vermont, covered in fried onions and spicy sauerkraut.
– A grain salad my mom made
– Vermont ice cream with chocolate sauce.
**Thank you to my brother Ben for the photos.