Gardener's Raw Vegetable Salad

 

I thought I’d write this post to share this easy barbecue chicken en papillote from Weelicious, which I made with the maple barbecue sauce from Keepers. It was a fine chicken recipe, though the sauce was just okay. But it was the side dish that really wowed me: this gardener’s raw salad from The Kitchn. I adapted it slightly, reducing the amount of oil and omitting the finely chopped red bell pepper in the dressing, since there’s already red bell pepper in the salad itself. The amounts below are mine. 

I really, really loved this, much more than I thought I would. I think I’ll make it every summer! Sadly, the rest of my family wasn’t keen on it, so I had lots and lots of leftovers. 

For the dressing 

¼ cup red wine vinegar 

1 clove garlic, sliced 

1 tsp. Dijon mustard 

½ tsp. sugar 

½ tsp. salt 

¼ cup olive oil 

additional salt and pepper, to taste 

For the salad 

yellow squash and zucchini, thinly sliced 

sugar snap peas, cut if big 

shelled edamame and/or field peas (I used edamame) 

red bell pepper, thinly sliced, cut if big 

fresh salad greens (I’m always partial to arugula) 

For the dressing, combine the red wine vinegar, garlic, Dijon, sugar, and salt in a blender (I did this with my immersion blender) and purée until the garlic is minced. With the blender running, very slowly add the oil in a thin stream and blend until creamy. Season with additional salt and pepper, to taste. 

For the salad, toss the vegetables (without the greens) in the dressing and marinate for about 15 minutes. Pile the vegetables onto the salad greens and serve. (The vegetables will keep well in the fridge with the dressing. You can also add only part of the dressing at first, depending on how many vegetables you are using.)