You Need a Shave!

...well, at least your salad does.  I have a new fascination with shaved vegetable salads.  First of all, they're pretty (and you know I dig that!), but they are also very easy to put together and on hot days like today, they require no cooking (I dig that even more!).  Even when I was a kid, I didn't like the idea of a hot meal and the additional warmth that the kitchen gave off on a hot day.  My mom would ask me what I wanted for dinner, and I would usually say "watermelon."  Not a very nourishing meal, so I never really got that, but the idea stays with me all these years later.

So tonight it's a shaved veggie salad with citrus vinaigrette....

Four simple ingredients: asparagus, carrot, radish, and walnuts.  Asparagus is one of my favorite veggies. and its season is almost over, so I'm trying to gobble it up before they're gone.  I know, you'll continue to see them in the grocery store, but they're not going to be locally grown and fabulous. Trust me, when you buy vegetables that are in season and grown locally, you don't have to do much to them to make them delicious; they just naturally are.

I used a vegetable peeler to shave long ribbons of the asparagus spears and the carrot (try to find rainbow carrots if you can; they're gorgeous!) and then thinly sliced the radishes.  Toss the veggies with walnuts and viola!  If you're willing to cook a tiny bit, you can blanch the asparagus tips in boiling water for a couple minutes and garnish with them.  If you want to go totally raw, then save the tips in a ziploc bag  in the freezer and throw them into a homemade veg stock.

As for the vinaigrette, the surprising key to its great flavor is the use of orange juice concentrate.  I'm not generally in favor of using a packaged product over the real thing, but in this case it is so much better.

Orange-Ginger Vinaigrette

Yield: 1/4 cup

2 tablespoons white balsamic

2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate

2 teaspoons chopped ginger*

1/2 teaspoon honey

1/2 teaspoon chopped chives*

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Place all ingredients except for salt and pepper in a small jar, cover and shake to combine.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

* A few tips: Use the side of a spoon (instead of using a knife) to peel the ginger.  This way you don't "give up too much real estate" when peeling it.  Use scissors to cut the chives into little peices.  And lastly the best way to taste your dressing is to use a piece of lettuce, or in this case one of the veggies, dipped in the dressing to see how it will taste in the salad; a spoonful is too overwhelming. 

If you don't make dressing in a jar and use a bowl instead, be sure to add all the ingredients except the olive oil, and then slowly whisk in the oil.  Then season to taste with salt & pepper.

Enjoy!!