Summer salad with a kick of heat
This perfect salad 鈥� crisp, filling, flavorful, exotic 鈥� is inspired by one I love that is made by , one of my favorite vendors at the weekly听 in Woodstock, N.Y. This post is a love letter both to the salad and also to the Farm Fest 鈥� one of my favorite things about our town.
All week, we look forward to Wednesday afternoon when we take the kids into town for a few hours of fun and good food at the .听It's so nice to be outside, surrounded by friends and I truly love having one night each week when I don't have to cook dinner or clean up afterwards. Before I had children, I washed all my dishes by hand and enjoyed doing laundry. But that is no longer the case. So vive the Wednesday market with its delicious prepared food!
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听Lately, our garden has been churning out kale, chard, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, onions, garlic, cabbages and herbs, leaving me with a pretty short shopping list, but I pick up whatever we need from the various farmers who spread out their offerings in the parking lot right off Tinker Street 鈥� Woodstock's main drag.
Then we walk across the street to Mower鈥檚 field where the prepared food vendors and the musicians set up. We turn our older son loose to run around, play with the bubble wands, Frisbees and hula hoops the Farm Fest provides or to scale the mountains of wood chips at the end of the field.
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听We鈥檇 like to turn our younger son loose but it鈥檚 nearly impossible to pry him from our legs lately so he sticks close by unless his grandma takes him off to buy a small brown paper sack of apple cider doughnuts from 听in Gardiner, N.Y. Thanks to his habit of wiping his dirty hands on his hair, James usually ends up covered in cinnamon sugar 鈥� it's how his nickname "Sugar Head" was born.听
My husband always gets a falafel from (the best!) and I often order whatever Cheryl and Juan at 听happen to be serving up. In addition to their tacos, pulled pork sandwich and mac 鈥檔鈥� cheese, people literally line up for a big plate of their baby kale salad with sesame ginger dressing, matchstick rainbow carrots and avocado (grilled chicken is an optional add-on). Sometimes there are radishes in it, sometimes not.
I like it so much that I鈥檝e recreated at home a few times lately. I made my version with a bag of the wonderful baby braising greens from 听in Millteron, N.Y. 鈥� their gorgeous greens are sold at the market鈥檚 co-op booth. I like the tiny bit of heat the baby mustard greens impart. Especially when it鈥檚 in dialogue with the sweet, salty, gingery dressing.
Do not skimp on the dressing! It鈥檚 a delicious combination of salty, sweet, and the wonderful spiciness of the ginger. Go heavy rather than light.
Sesame ginger greens with matchstick carrots and avocado
听Serves 4
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听1 bag of mixed baby greens - kale, mizuna, mustard greens, arugala, spinach, etc.
听2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into very thin matchsticks
听1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced
听2-3 radishes, cleaned and thinly sliced (optional)
听Handful of sesame seeds for garnish (black is very striking)
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听For the dressing
听1 garlic clove, pressed (mince it if you prefer)
听1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger
听3 tablespoons rice vinegar
听1 tablespoon soy sauce
听1 teaspoon maple syrup or brown sugar
听4 tablespoons olive or grapeseed oil
听2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
听1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
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听1. Make the dressing 鈥� simply mix all the ingredients together and blend well.
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听2. Compose the salad 鈥� toss the greens, carrots and radishes with a generous amount of dressing, lay the sliced avocado over the top, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.
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