I'm lucky to be married to an enthusiastic gardener. We have been gratefully eating our way through our own yard these last few months, sharing with friends, and planning for what produce summer will soon bring. But I realized one day last week that all we really have been eating this spring are leaves. Spinach and kale have been obvious companions, as well as more unobtrusive ones like miner's lettuce, sorrel and nettles. Salad really is nothing but, well...leaves. Sure we have lots of herbs, too, which are fun to play with. Why not liven things up by adding some leaves to my leaves?!
While looking for new ways to serve this abundance, I remembered the salad that I always look for on the menu at Japanese restaurants. This is my best approximation of it. Use any gentle green that you have. I have had great luck with both kale and spinach and, when young and tender, have even made it with nettles.
Greens and Sesame Salad
Makes 4 salads
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
12 ounces (or a large pile) of fresh greens
2 tablespoons soy
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon sesame oil
DIRECTIONS
1. Over medium heat in a skillet, toast the sesame seeds for a few minutes. Stir almost constantly. When fragrant, transfer to a plate to cool. Grind with a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder. (You'll know you're done when the seeds resemble coarse coffee grounds.)
2. Put on a large pot of water to boil. Prepare a bowl of ice water. Wash your greens and remove the largest of the stems.
3. Blanch the de-stemmed greens by dunking them in the boiling water for 1 minute (longer for tougher greens) and then moving them to a bowl of ice water.
4. Remove the greens from the water and squeeze them over the sink to drain out most of the water. Chop this mound coarsely.
5. In a jar, shake the ground sesame seeds, soy, mirin, water, honey and sesame oil.
6. Stir the dressing into the greens with a fork, taking care to separate the leaves as you toss them.
Notes:
- This salad will keep in the fridge for a day or two but is most delicious fresh. Often I'll make twice the dressing to keep on hand and then dress newly blanched greens when I want to eat it again.
- I keep an old, temperamental electric coffee grinder on hand for spice and seed grinding.
- If I am making this for lunch, I usually round out the meal with a halved hard-boiled egg sprinkled with a little reserved ground sesame and salt.
Anne Willhoit is an educator, community volunteer, and enthusiastic baker who likes to create recipes that use from-scratch techniques and are inspired by local, seasonal ingredients. Find her on Instagram at @aawillhoit or drop her an inquiry at FromScratchKS@gmail.com. Support coverage of local news by signing up today for a digital subscription.
"dish" - Google News
June 04, 2020 at 05:53AM
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A dish for all those spring garden leaves - Kitsap Sun
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