Indulging in the tastes of spring
There is nothing like ringing in a new season with a meal to
indulge in the flavors of the fresh new crops.
Springtime means big beautiful heads of butter lettuce tightly
wound together that smell of the earth it grew in and it leaves a
soft texture on your tongue as you savor its sweet flavor.
”
This lettuce makes the perfect base to a salad,
”
I think as I stand with my back to the sun beating on my neck,
gently ripping the leaves apart and tossing them in to the salad
bowl. It was the first 70 degree day in San Francisco of the
year.
Indulging in the tastes of spring
There is nothing like ringing in a new season with a meal to indulge in the flavors of the fresh new crops.
Springtime means big beautiful heads of butter lettuce tightly wound together that smell of the earth it grew in and it leaves a soft texture on your tongue as you savor its sweet flavor. “This lettuce makes the perfect base to a salad,” I think as I stand with my back to the sun beating on my neck, gently ripping the leaves apart and tossing them in to the salad bowl. It was the first 70 degree day in San Francisco of the year.
The motions of building a meal in one bowl, with no cooking, is a ritual I like to take slowly so that I can enjoy the feeling of the fresh vegetables as they slip through my fingers.
After the lettuce is prepared, I shred a carrot with a vegetable peeler and toss it in with the lettuce.
After carrots comes one bulb of kohlrabi for sweetness. There are two kinds of kohlrabi grown in Hollister – one purple, the other green. The green variety is somewhat sweeter, so I opt for one of them. I take a knife and remove the outer skin then thinly slice slivers of this sweet vegetable and toss it with the carrots and lettuce.
Next I take two watermelon radishes, which resemble a boring old white turnip on the outside, and peel off its full outer layer. I halve one of them and a burst of dark pink flesh is revealed in its center, separating it from the boring vegetable category and giving me a hint of summertime. I roughly chop one radish into fourths and set it aside. The other I thinly slice as I did the kohlrabi and toss it in the bowl.
And now for the cheese – something you could do without when making a salad, but I can never resist the added flavor it brings to each bite. Today I take a block of Feta cheese and chop up about a quarter of a cup and toss it in with the vegetables.
Now the base of my salad is complete. I pick up two of my out-of-season vices from the fruit bowl – a clamshell of organic cherry tomatoes and an avocado. I dice half of the avocado and a handful of tomatoes and arrange them on top of the lettuce mixture.
The last addition to this salad is a little more protein. I open a can of my favorite three bean salad, made of kidney, garbanzo, and pinto beans, and drain them. I pile the beans on top of the salad. Now I am ready to quickly whisk together a vinaigrette dressing that is both full of flavor but light enough so as not to drown out the earthiness of the vegetables.
The dressing is simple: 1 tbsp. lemon juice; 2 tbsp. champagne vinegar; 1/4 tsp. salt; 1/8 tsp. pepper; 1 clove garlic. Minced; 1 tbsp. honey; 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard; and 1/3 c. olive oil. As I whisk these together, I munch on the radish I set aside, first dunking it in some extra lemon juice I didn’t need, then popping it in my mouth.
I gently mix half of the dressing with the salad and for a minute bask in the beautiful array of colors in the bowl before diving in.
To this, I raise my fork and say Happy Spring!
Becky Herbert grew up in Hollister and today is the proprietor of Eating with the Seasons (eatwiththeseasons.com).
