I recently had the pleasure of visiting the market this last week, and was blessed with the bounty of spring in Ontario. I was inspired to make a green salad that was so beautiful, healthy and tasty that I just had to share it with all of you out there. The recipe goes as follows:
Roughly equal parts of asparagus, cut in half on the bias, fiddle heads, fava beans and snow peas.
Clean and blanch all of the vegetable using Thomas Keller’s “big pot method”, which is in his French Laundry book which is a must own, but if you don’t have it, I will post this method later on. Also make sure to shuck each individual fava bean after blanching. It may be alot of work but it is more than worth it. After shocking the vegetables in ice water, remove them and dry them well.
For the dressing you will need:
roughly 3:1 olive oil to lemon juice, a touch of honey and salt and pepper. To add depth to the dressing, I recommend finely dicing a clove of garlic and a small shallot and letting them steep in the lemon juice for a few hours. This will not make or break the dish, but will add an extra dimension of flavour. The important thing is less about keeping the 3:1 ratio intact and more about making sure that the dressing tastes well balanced.
To finish the salad chiffonade fresh basil and mint, add to the vegetables and toss with the dressing. Once plated, garnish with shavings of Piave cheese. I use a vegetable peeler to get nice long curls. Not only are the many shades of green stunning when contrasted with the creamy white cheese, they are also healthy and extremely delicious. This is a great spring and early summer salad that is sure to impress your guests and leave you feeling wonderful and inspired by this beautiful season.