Savory/ spring/ Toss/ Vegetable/ Yotam Ottolenghi

Spring Salad

A light drizzle of rain overnight seemed to have awakened the budding green shoots all around. Spring has finally arrived. I want to make a dish that sings to the glory of the season. There are so many lovely green vegetables in the market calling to be enlisted: artichokes, asparagus, peas and cabbage of all kinds.

When you put all green vegetables in one salad bowl, as Ottolenghi suggests, you get the most glorious celebration of spring. Four of my favorite green vegetables are asparagus, haricots verts, green peas and baby spinach; I like them year round. Even my latest favorites, black sesame seeds and nigella seeds, are making a spectacular showing amid this spring madness salad mix. The emerald tone of the salad and the earthy flavor of the seeds heighten the call to the soil and the awaiting vegetable and herb patch to be planted. There is clearly excitement in the air.

This is a very simple salad; you don’t even need a recipe to make one. The key is getting the best and freshest ingredients that the season offers. Any number of green vegetables would do the trick.

First, blanch the vegetables in a big pot of boiling water until they are tender, but with a bite. Three minutes for the asparagus, five minutes for the green beans and two minutes for the peas, according to Ottolenghi’s recipe. Then shock the vegetables in a bowl of cold water. I couldn’t find fresh or frozen fava beans. I used green peas instead. Haricot verts would have been great, but I couldn’t resist picking out some loose green beans from the farmer’s market. So green beans went into the salad instead.

Toss all the vegetables in a dressing made with olive oil, sesame oil and lemon juice. A mad sprinkle of white sesame seeds and nigella seeds adds a finishing touch, bringing a feverish pitch to an already exciting mix. I should have sprinkled more seeds all over with abandon and exuberance. Spring is here!

 

Green vegetables: asparagus, green beans, peas and spinach

I am linking this post to IHCC’s potluck gathering this week. Please check the blogroll for other exciting spring offerings.

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13 Comments

  • Reply
    Tina
    April 25, 2016 at 8:05 pm

    That's a salad I can enjoy, love how fresh it is and the color just pops! You could link up with Deb in Hawaii for her Souper Sunday, she has salads and sammies too.

  • Reply
    Zosia
    April 25, 2016 at 10:49 pm

    That looks like a lovely ode to spring.

  • Reply
    Claudia
    April 27, 2016 at 11:34 pm

    Just beautiful, and so inviting, especially with hits of red pepper to bring out the greenness even more.

  • Reply
    Vicki
    April 28, 2016 at 3:25 pm

    I love salads like this. I'm pinning it.

  • Reply
    Deb in Hawaii
    April 30, 2016 at 1:03 am

    So gorgeously green! It definitely looks like spring on a plate. Salads like these always tempt me to dig in. 😉

  • Reply
    kitchen flavours
    April 30, 2016 at 12:41 pm

    I love how fresh and green the dish looks! This is one veggie dish that I would not hesitate to dig in!

  • Reply
    Alicia Foodycat
    April 30, 2016 at 3:39 pm

    How lovely! I've been so excited about the new season asparagus – this is definitely a dish to try with it!

  • Reply
    ostwestwind
    May 1, 2016 at 1:01 pm

    This looks so springlike green, still waiting for the asparagus season in Northern Germany

  • Reply
    Kim
    May 2, 2016 at 12:51 am

    This is indeed as celebration of spring and what's to come. So many lovely green veggies adorning your plate. A tasty dish to eat with abandon:)

  • Reply
    Couscous & Consciousness
    May 2, 2016 at 6:41 am

    My gosh – that looks beautiful. It seriously is a real celebration of spring, and I'm very jealous – heading into winter in my part of the world there won't be much green to be seen around here for the next four months.

  • Reply
    flour.ish.en
    May 2, 2016 at 1:39 pm

    The change of season is a wonderful thing. Fresh greens for spring and pickle them in the fall so they'll last a few more months longer.

  • Reply
    Joyce Rachel Lee-Bates
    May 3, 2016 at 3:06 am

    I love the pop of colors from the red chili bits against the greens. Lovely!

  • Reply
    Diane Zwang
    May 4, 2016 at 7:58 pm

    This looks like a delicious salad, I will have to make this.

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