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Simple Green Salad with Edible Flowers

April 18, 2014 Hannah Kirshner
Photo: Burcu Avsar

Photo: Burcu Avsar

A simple green salad can be a perfect thing. Choose an interesting mix of greens, some spicy, some sweet, some tender and some crisp. Dress it simply and lightly. (I like a sherry vinaigrette composed of a little minced shallot, a tiny bit of dijon, sherry vinegar and good olive oil). Gently pile the salad high on a plate, and polka-dot it with edible flowers. When the greens are good and the dressing is balanced, you won't wish for crumbled cheese or croutons!

Here are some hints. If you've never made your own salad dressing, start now! Begin with equal parts of acid (vinegar or lemon juice) and oil, and a pinch of salt in a small jar. Shake it up and taste it. Is it too sour? Add more oil. Does it taste flat? Try a bit more acid or salt. Not sure? Dip a leaf in it and taste it again. Dijon will help emulsify the mixture. A drop of honey or a pinch of sugar rounds it out. Add garlic, shallot, or herbs for complexity. Now mix and vary dressings to your hearts content.

To dress the salad without drowning it, pour a little dressing in a large bowl, then gently toss the greens in it. This way, you can add just enough gloss and flavor to each leaf. If the salad needs more dressing, pour it down the side of the bowl instead of directly onto the salad, and then toss some more. Also, make sure the greens are dry before you dress them, so the dressing will stick instead of sliding off.

Picked edible flowers can be hard to find and expensive, and they wilt fast. You are often better off buying a potted plant: pansies, violas, marigolds or nasturtiums are tasty and easy to care for. Water the plant whenever the soil feels dry. Pluck any blossoms that wilt. The plant will yield a couple of rounds of flowers for you.

But this shouldn't be fussy, it's a simple pleasure. Time to get to the farmers market, or scatter some seeds, and begin our salad days.

 

You might also like:

Honest Early Spring Desserts

Salad Obsession

 

In Recipe, Savory Tags salad, edible flowers, greens, vegetables, sherry vinaigrette, salad dressing, how-to, DIY, fresh, spring, quick, easy
← A Sherbet for SpringSalad Days →

About Sweets & Bitters

Sweets & Bitters features fun recipes with helpful tips. We temper pastries and cocktails with wholesome everyday foods, and balance aspirations to eat locally and seasonally with pragmatism about our busy lives and readily available ingredients.

From the dishes described to the paper our mini-cookbooks are printed on, Sweets & Bitters is about everyday pleasure. The title implies pastries, cocktails and everything in between. It alludes to birthdays and breakups, dinner parties and nights alone, perfect summer weekends, bad days at work, and treats just for the fun of it.

Delight can strike in unexpected places. Sometimes the best part of a dinner party is washing dishes with your best friend after all the guests have gone, sharing hearty laughs and intimate conversation. Sometimes a freshly pulled carrot is more pleasing than a fancy cake. Between the sweet and the bitter, let’s celebrate life lived well.

 

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@wenzhaosongpu let me mix the last #shubo of the season at @shishishinosato! Shubo is the sake mother, like levain for bread. Mixing it by hand is the best way to tell if the koji is incorporated and the temperature is even—but hardly anyone bothers with that messy hard work now that machines (or at least tools) can do it. #sake #sakagura #kurabito #nambutoji #shishinosato #日本酒 #酒蔵 #蔵人 #ししのさと #獅子の里 #foreignwomanthebook #mylifeinjapan #yamanakaonsen #山中温泉 #酒母
Okayu with duck confit, scallion oil, and sour pickled radish. So often my favorite dishes come about when I cook with a limited palate of leftovers. What are some of your favorite dishes you’ve made from leftovers or odds and ends? #okayu #congee #duckconfit #wildduck #leftovers #breakfast
I picked a few fuki-no-to while I was out running today. #fukinoto #fukinotou #ふきのとう #蕗の薹 #wildplants #wildedibles #foraging #wildcrafting #mylifeinjapan #foreignwomanthebook #onmyrun #runningmotivation #countrygirl #inaka #kaga #ishikawa
It’s a good time of year to cook #nikujaga, potatoes and thin-sliced beef stewed in sweet soy dashi. You can find the recipe by searching for my name on @nytcooking, and then serve it as a snack with beer, or with rice to make a meal. To get the seasoning just right, I had help from @junko_h_ponsana, @fullpointgraphics and Saori Kurioka. 📷@karstenmoran. #nytcooking #nikujyaga #japanesefood #japaneserecipe #meatandpotatoes #japanesecooking #motherstaste #日本料理 #肉じゃが #stew #beerfood #yatai #simplefood #homecooking #japanesehomecooking
Jewelry or weapon? Yes. Rosewood ring from my wood turnerfriend @takehito.nakajima. #rosewood #brassknuckles #jewelry #selfdefense #jewelrydesign #woodenjewelry #shokunin #yamanakashikki #メリケンサック #madeinjapan
Here’s the version of the #viral #tamagosando (@nytcooking posted about) that I’m eating, purchased from the convenience store when I have to be up too early to make breakfast. I look forward to trying the fancy version at @konbi that @tejalxrao write about😘😘, but this hits the spot with a ¥100 cup of coffee. #konbini #famima #familymart #convini #sando #eggsandwich #eggsaladsandwich #nytcooking #junkfood #zuborameshi #タマゴサンド #コンビニ #mylifeinjapan #japan
These are two of the kindest gifts I have ever received: cake at break time in the sake brewery, and a duck caught by a rare type of net hunting with a samurai past. I feel so lucky not only to get to see things that are usually off-limits to foreigners, but to have made friends in those places. #mylifeinjapan #birthday #foreignwomanthebook #sakagura #sakaami #酒蔵 #坂網鴨 #happybirthday
More kura magic in that beautiful steam and daylight. #shishinosato #sakagura #kura #sake #nihonshu #kurabito #steamy #日本酒 #酒蔵 #蔵 #蔵人 #蒸米 #酒米 #山中温泉 #加賀市 #石川県 #foreignwomanthebook #japan

 

 

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