A Very Good Spring Salad

What makes a spring salad a very good one? It is hearty and satiating, yet embodies the bright characteristics of spring. It has a breadth of textures. It is prepared so that the season’s produce can bask in the glory of its pure flavor, and it can be widely adapted based on what you have on hand or access to in your local farmers market. A very good spring salad differs from others of its class in that it, despite being a salad, contains no lettuce. Of course, a salad can be a salad without greens (see: fruit salad, panzanella, greek), but we’ll save that “what makes a salad a salad” debate for another day. 

Okay, okay, it’s true. It has several components, it’s a labor of love. Don’t let that turn you away! The lack of lettuce means that what you end up with will be just as blissful to enjoy the next day, and the next, with no concern for sogging. Just another reason it’s so very good. 

While we believe this recipe is the alpha, we encourage you to customize as needed. If you have broccoli and peas, but have neither asparagus nor the will to drag yourself to the store, use what you’ve got! All we care about is that you get this salad in your life, whatever that may take. Blanch those green beans, swap the sugar snap peas for the last bits of your tired celery, or add some basil to the herb medley. Serve it with some pan-roasted salmon or grilled chicken thighs, or add cannellini beans to the vegetable base. Whatever you do, we hope you find it to be a very good spring salad.

Cheers,

Kat + Camilla

A Very Good Spring Salad

Serves 4

This is a great Easter salad, or to make on any Sunday, with the hopes you’ll have leftovers to bring to work the next day. No matter when you make it, we hope you get to share it with others. 

Ingredients

Shallot Oil 

1 cup oil, pick your favorite - we love olive oil and avocado 

1 cup sliced shallot, roughly ⅛ inch thick

Farro

½ cup dried farro

1 tbsp shallot oil 

Salt to taste  

Whipped Feta 

⅓ cup feta

⅓ cup plain greek yogurt

1½ tsp olive oil

Lemon Shallot Vinaigrette 

1½ tsp dijon mustard

1½ tsp agave or honey

Zest of ½ lemon

3 tbsp lemon juice, about half of a juicy lemon

1 tbsp jammy shallots

2 tsp champagne vinegar

¼ cup shallot oil 

⅛ tsp salt

Pepper to taste 

Salad

1½ cups broccolini

1½ cups asparagus

⅓ cup snap peas, sliced (plus 4-6 whole snap peas to garnish)

⅓ radish, julienne 

⅛ cup roasted pistachios, roughly chopped

¾ cup herb medley (dill, mint, parsley, scallion)

Preparation 

1. Make shallot oil & jammy shallots: Place 1 cup oil and 1 cup thinly sliced shallot in a small pot. Heat over medium until you begin to see small bubbles, then turn down to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until shallots are soft and translucent. Taste to be sure it's done – the shallots should be jammy and a little sweet. *

2. Cook farro: Bring 4 cups of salty water to a boil in a small pot. Rinse ½ cup dried farro. Add the farro to the boiling water and cook for 30 minutes, unless otherwise stated on your farro package. Once the farro is al dente, drain water. Stir in 1 tbsp of shallot oil and salt to taste. 

3. Whip feta: Blend ⅓ cup feta, ⅓ cup plain greek yogurt, and 1½ tsp olive oil until smooth. We use an immersion blender, but a small blender may work too.

4. Make lemon shallot vinaigrette: Measure 1½ tsp dijon mustard, 1½ agave or honey, 1 tbsp jammy shallots, zest of ½ a lemon, 3 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp champagne vinegar in a bowl, ⅛ tsp salt, and a sprinkle of pepper. Whisk until well combined. Slowly drizzle in shallot oil while stirring, and mix until fully emulsified. Taste for salt and pepper. 

5. Prepare vegetables: Bring 8 cups of salty water to a boil in a medium pot. Prep a large bowl of ice water for blanching your vegetables. Boil 1½ cups of broccolini for 3-5 minutes, until al dente. Use a slotted spoon to transfer in the ice bath immediately to stop cooking. Repeat with the 1½ cups of asparagus. Drain the broccolini and asparagus, pat dry. Cut into bite size pieces, for us that’s around 1½ inches. For the herb medley, pick the herbs off their stems, and thinly slice the scallion.

6. Build A Very Good Spring Salad: In a large bowl, combine the blanched asparagus and broccolini, ⅓ cup sliced snap peas,  ⅓ cup julienned radish, and lemon shallot vinaigrette. Toss until all of the vegetables are well coated. Taste for salt. Spread the whipped feta on the bottom of your serving plate. Spoon the cooked farro over the top of the whipped feta, spreading it evenly. Pile the vegetables on top of the farro. Sprinkle the roughly chopped ⅛ cup of roasted pistachios over the vegetables. Place additional snap peas on top to garnish, we like to open them carefully to show off their proud peas. Top off with the ¾ cup herb medley.

* You will have left over shallot oil and jammy shallots – don’t worry you’ll be happy about this. Refrigerate in an airtight container and enjoy this liquid gold on anything and everything.

Do ahead:

Shallot oil can be made up to 2 weeks in advance, refrigerated with shallots fully submerged in the oil. 

Farro can be cooked up to 4 days in advance.

Whipped feta can be made up to 3 days in advance.