Everything is green here and I couldn’t be happier about it. So I decided to celebrate in salad form with ALL THE GREEN THINGS. Ok, maybe not ALL the green things. But I think we can agree that a plethora of spring’s greenery is represented in that bowl. Verde, verde, verde. And now I want tomatillos so I can make salsa. But that’s for summer. We’ll get there.
Speaking of summer, I’m brushing the cobwebs off of my gardening gloves and digging out my old seed packets to try my hand at a growing some green things this year. Are any of you into gardening or want to learn more? Let me know in the comments! Ok, back to this Spring-a-licious salad.
The Green Things
Mint (and/or cilantro)
Zucchini ribbons
Asparagus ribbons
Cucumber ribbons
Avocado
Peas (I used frozen peas, don’t judge me)
Tossed with a 3-ingredient dressing/marinade, and you have yourself spring in a bowl.
You could absolutely just chop all of the veggies up into bite sized pieces and call it a day. But I am recently obsessed with my new favorite peeler, and feel the need to turn as many vegetables into ribbons as possible. See Exhibit A. Plus, let’s face it, vegetable ribbons are beautiful. Anyway, I think so. I liked making the ribbons a little bit narrower, so I made some vertical slices before using the peeler and it worked really well. Consider me your guinea pig. 🙂
Can we just talk for a second about my pathetic attempt at an avocado rose? I’ve been fawning all over the beautiful avocado spirals and flowers and other fancy-pants shapes on Instagram, and I thought I’d try my hand at it. Turns out, having a perfectly ripe avocado actually works against you when trying to make avocado art. Just a head’s up for any of you aspiring artists out there hoping to use avocado as your newest medium.
For this salad, I chose to make the dressing super simple, to let the green factor really shine. And actually, it’s really more of a marinade than a dressing. It’s simply rice vinegar, coconut sugar, and salt. All of the vegetables in this salad have a high water content, and the minute salt hits them they start to release that liquid pretty quickly. You might want to dress the salad and then let it sit in a colander over a bowl for a few minutes to let some of the water collect in the bowl. Then you can toss the liquid and put the salad back into the bowl before serving. I just felt it was important that I tell you that up front so you didn’t get mad at me later for telling you to make a watery salad. I’ve said my piece.
I don’t know about you, but looking at these photos makes me want to go buy all the green things and shovel them into my mouth. It’s SPRING! Bring on the green!
Super Green Spring Salad
Ingredients
For the salad
- 1 bunch of asparagus (washed and peeled into ribbons)
- 2 small zucchini (washed and peeled into ribbons)
- 1 English cucumber (washed and peeled into ribbons)
- 1 cup green peas (fresh or frozen)
- 1 ripe avocado (peeled and sliced)
- 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves or cilantro (or a mixture)
For the dressing/marinade
- 3 Tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon coconut sugar or other sweetener of your choice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Shave the asparagus, zucchini, and cucumber into ribbons using a peeler (recommendeor a mandoline.
- Add the vegetable ribbons along with the peas, and mint to a serving bowl.
- Whisk dressing ingredients together in a small bowl or shake to combine in a small mason jar.
- Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients and toss to combine.
- If desired, let sit for 10 minutes to allow the salt in the dressing to pull out some moisture from the vegetables.
- Drain the salad and return to the bowl.
- Add the avocado slices on top of each portion and serve immediately.
gorgeous!! Don’t have a peeler like that, but I do own two different types of “zoodlers” that haven’t lived up to the hype yet. I have mint growing amok in my yard and garden, so will have to give it a try. I love adding fresh herbs to my salads. I grow thyme, rosemary, chervil, summer and winter savories, marjoram, cilantro, parsley, oregano and sage (so far).
I have kohlrabi growing (about 4-5 in. hight) right now, which, if you haven’t tried it, you must. Right now I have seedlings of carrots, beets, vit (corn salad or mache), dill, and about 60 sets of red onion going. Also have lettuce and spinach almost ready to harvest.
Tomatoes, green beans and squash will be added later.
Thanks Kay!!! Which “zoodlers” do you have, I’m curious. 🙂 I am so jealous of all of your herbs, I just got my raised beds filled up yesterday and am itching to fill them up this week! Many of the high schools in our area have electives where the students grow plants and then sell them around this time of year, so I’m going to a sale tomorrow to stock up! Plus I have a bunch of seeds from last year that I hope won’t be duds. 🙂 60 sets of red onion, wow!!! And yes, I’ve tried, kohlrabi, but I’d love to feature it here, it’s an underrated vegetable for sure. Maybe I’ll grow it!
your food always looks delicious, I wish I could grow my own veg. have grown some herbs, Cilantro( not easy)parsley , basil,and oregano, nothing better than fresh herbs. thank you for your recipes.