Everything Green Salad

I suspect you'll be reading this after you've gorged on one or several turkey dinners. If this is the case, my timing couldn't be better. You will likely be looking for something on the light side. This is a summer salad filled with summer ingredients and I made it in July when all the vegetables in this pictures were in good form. At this time of year, your selection of greens will look a little different, but that's okay. What makes this salad unique is the dressing. It is magic when combined with fresh feta and good veg. Those with allergies should not despair. Having made a sunflower seed pesto the other day confirmed that substituting sunflowers seeds in nut-based recipes is no sacrifice. Seeds in this dressing would make this salad just as interesting. Now, go finish up that last piece of pumpkin pie.

From: http://www.chatelaine.com

Serves 4

Ingredients

Salad

• Head of green leaf lettuce, torn into small pieces
• Head of butter lettuce, torn into small pieces
• 1/2 cup of sugar snap peas
• 4 spears asparagus, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 small zucchini, cut in ribbons with a vegetable peeler
• 4 green onions, sliced
• 2 avocados, diced
• 2 T freshly chopped dill
• 2 Baby cucumber, sliced
• 2 oz feta cheese, diced

Dressing

• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1T Dijon mustard
• 1 t granulated sugar
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 finely chopped pistachios
• salt and pepper to taste

For the salad dressing:

Whisk together the lemon juice, Dijon, mustard and shallot until the sugar has dissolved. Slowly add in the oils until emulsified. Stir in pistachios and season with salt and pepper. 

For the Salad:

In a large pot of boiling water, add the peas and boil for one minute. Remove from heat and dump the peas in ice water to stop them from cooking any further. Repeat this blanching process with the asparagus. Once the peas and asparagus have cooled, remove them from the cold water and set them aside to dry before adding them to the salad. Combine the remaining salad ingredients into a large bowl. Add the peas, asparagus and salad dressing, tossing well to allow the dressing to coat all elements of the salad. Serve immediately.