Taste: Balance out fried foods, sugary sweets with a giant green goddess salad
After a week of the fried foods and sugary indulgences served at county and state fairs and other summer gatherings, sometimes the body just screams, “Give me a vegetable!”
When that happens, the easiest way to get a large variety of vegetables in one dish is to make a leafy salad.
At the beginning of the year, Melissa Ben-Ishay of Baked By Melissa — a cupcakery out of New York City that ships nationwide — posted this green goddess salad on her social media, and it quickly became a viral sensation.
It has a ton of flavor, the dressing is just a bunch of stuff blended together and the bulk of the salad consists of cabbage, one of the cheapest leafy greens.
Green goddess dressing has been around for ages. A 2017 Associated Press article claims that Louis XIII ate a version of it in the 17th century. The modern version first made its appearance in 1800s San Francisco at the Palace Hotel.
Twentieth century versions of the dressing were based in mayonnaise or sour cream and blended with anchovies.
Ben-Ishay’s version is vegan. The nuts in the dressing give it the creaminess that mayo or sour cream would, and nutritional yeast is used in place of cheese.
Nutritional yeast is a cousin to the same yeast used to bake bread or make beer, and it’s packed with nutrients, as its name suggests. In two tablespoons, there are eight grams of protein and four grams of fiber. Those who are vegetarian and vegan use it in place of cheese — especially parmesan — to create a similar flavor profile. As traditional parmesan cheese uses rennet, which can only be harvested from a slaughtered animal, it is not considered vegetarian.
I found store-brand nutritional yeast from a big box store. It’s becoming a more common ingredient. Grated parmesan from a green shaker bottle can also be used in this recipe.
Ben-Ishay eats this salad as a dip with crackers or tortilla chips, which works really well. I wanted to make this part of a meal, so I served it with some pan-fried pork chops and pressure cooked corn on the cob.
I also did a slightly rougher chop than Ben-Ishay, because I was serving it as a salad. Her dice is fine, but anything really works.
Based on the ingredient list, I knew I would like this salad. I was not prepared for how absolutely delicious it is.
I feel like earthy, herby flavors get lost in the shuffle sometimes. The big, bold flavors of garlic, onion and lemon like to over take a lot of our favorite dishes from all types of cuisines. This salad brings them to the forefront, but marries them with those bold flavors in a really pleasing way.
Take some time to chop up some veggies to balance out all that not-so-healthy food served at the Brown County and state fairs. And when a sweets craving hits, follow Ben-Ishay on Instagram: @bakedbymelissa. Her miniature cupcakes are adorable.
Green Goddess Salad
Salad ingredients
1 small head of green cabbage.
3 or 4 Persian cucumbers or 1 English cucumber.
1/4 cup chives.
1 bunch of green onions or scallions.
Dressing Ingredients
1 cup basil leaves.
1 cup fresh spinach.
2 cloves garlic.
1 small shallot.
2 lemons, juiced.
1/4 cup olive oil.
1/4 cup nuts of your choice.
1/3 cup nutritional yeast.
1 teaspoon salt.
2 tablespoons of rice vinegar.
Any extra chives on hand.
Instructions
Wash and chop all of the salad ingredients with a sharp knife as small as you would like. Place in a large bowl.
Add all of the liquid salad dressing ingredients to a blender (olive oil, lemon juice, rice vinegar). Add the rest of the dressing ingredients to the same blender.
Blend until your dressing is a thick, pourable consistency.
Pour the dressing over salad ingredients.
Recipe from Baked by Melissa at https://www.bakedbymelissa.com/blog/savory-recipes/green-goddess-salad.
This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Vegetarians, vegans can enjoy this tasty green goddess salad
