Many of my readers are probably too young to remember what early spring salads looked like in the 1950s or 1960s, when people used to eat locally grown produce and exotic fruit and vegetable were considered a rarity.
Early spring brings us not only strawberries, but also the delicate Boston lettuce (also known as bib lettuce or butterhead), chives, radishes, young carrots, and spring onions. Make best use of these ingredients whenever you can. When they are grown locally they do not loose their nutritional value due to transportation over vast distances.
Boston Lettuce
Kale lovers often underestimate such fragile greens as the Boston lettuce. Unlike kale, Boston lettuce does not store well, but like any greens it has nutritional value that cannot be neglected. Boston lettuce is a good source of B vitamins such as thiamin, riboflavin, folate and vitamin B6; vitamins A, K and C; minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, potassium and manganese. Boston lettuce is also a very good source of dietary fiber.
In this recipe one head of lettuce is used to make four portions. I used 1/4 of a head for each portion.
Ingredients:
for the salad
- 1 head of Boston lettuce
- 1 bunch radishes, chopped (use 4-5 radishes for each portion)
- 1 bunch chives, chopped (you should have at least 1 cup)
for the dressing
- 1/2 cup virgin olive oil (use cold pressed flax or hemp oil if you prefer)
- 1/2 freshly made almond cream
- 1 shallot, roughly chopped
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 2 tsp coconut syrup (use raw honey or any other liquid sweetener if you prefer)
- Celtic sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method:
- Using a blender make salad dressing. Whip it until creamy. Place it in the fridge to chill a bit.
- Gently wash the lettuce. Pat it dry. Turn the lettuce head upside down. Using a very sharp knife cut the lettuce into quarters.
- Arrange each quarter on a platter. Pour a few spoons of dressing over each lettuce wedge.
- Toss chopped radishes and chopped chives over the lettuce wedges. Serve as a side salad or appetizer and enjoy in good company!
Tip: To make vegan nut cream use half the amount of water that you would normally use to make nut milk. To learn how to make nut milk please check out my nut milk tutorial.
In radiant health, passionately raw - Dominique
Dominique Allmon©2015