Veni, Vidi, Vici Salad
SUNFLOWER-POWERED CAESAR DRESSING JAZZES UP A BEVY OF SPRING VEGETABLES
Winter is almost over, but the urge to carb load isn’t. Meet the onslaught of spring veggies in the middle by digging into a salad of hearty potatoes and chickpeas, spiked with capers, olives, and sugar snap peas and paired with your favorite fresh greens. Layer salad dressings for maximum flavor: dress the greens with a simple vinaigrette, then garnish everything else with a creamy, sunflower-seed based Caesar dressing.
Snap Peas and Potatoes Spring Salad
Makes 2 generous entrée salads
• 1 lb. small red or yellow waxy new potatoes, thoroughly scrubbed
• 1/2 lb. sugar snap peas, stems trimmed
• 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• A few twists of freshly ground black pepper
• 1 14-oz. can chickpeas, drained and well rinsed
• 4 to 6 cups mixed spring greens
• 1 8-oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and sliced into quarters
• 1/3 cup Kalamata olives, pits removed
• 1/3 cup toasted sliced almonds
• 2 heaping Tbsp. capers
Prepare the Caesar dressing (right) and chill. Dice potatoes into 1-inch chunks. In a large pot, steam potatoes in a steamer basket over boiling water, covered, for 10 to 12 minutes until easily pierced with a fork. With steamer pot still boiling, remove potatoes and rinse with cold water. Then steam sugar snap peas, covered, for only a minute. Rinse with cold water and shake dry.
In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper. In a mixing bowl, gently toss this vinaigrette with chickpeas and mixed greens. Divide among serving plates, then add potatoes, snap peas, and artichoke hearts to each, and garnish with olives, nuts, capers. Drizzle with Caesar dressing, and eat!
Sun and Sea Sunflower Caesar Dressing
Makes about 1 cup
• 1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds, soaked*
• 1/2 cup unsweetened plain almond or cashew milk
• 1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
• 6 Kalamata olives, pits removed
• 1 Tbsp. olive brine (from the olive jar)
• 2 tsp. rice vinegar
• 2 tsp. white miso
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 tsp. powdered seaweed ?(arame, kelp, nori, etc.)
• Big pinch of sea salt
• Several generous twists of ?black pepper
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Drain sunflower seeds. In a high-powered blender, blend everything except oil into a smooth cream. Drizzle in oil a little at a time, pulsing until mixture is emulsified. (Keeps for two days in the fridge.)
*In a bowl, cover seeds with 2 inches of water, cover the bowl, and set aside for 2 hours or overnight.
Adapted from Show Up For Salad: 100 More Recipes for Salads, Dressing, and All the Fixins You Don’t Have to Be Vegan to Love by Terry Hope Romero (Da Capo Lifelong Books, out June 4, 2019).
Photographed by Emily Hawkes
This article originally appeared in the March/April 2019 print edition of BUST Magazine. Subscribe today!
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