Straight from the Earth

HEALTHY GREENS with CARROTS and PARSLEY

This easy recipe has become one of my favorites, and it was purely a product of serendipity. My family was hungry for a salad on a winter day when my fridge was almost empty. The only greens I had were baby kale, and my only vegetable was one huge carrot. We also had a bit of volunteer Italian flat-leaf parsley that survived the cold in our garden. I decided to cut the carrot into tons of very thin slices with a mandoline and combined the three ingredients into a salad, tossed with a white wine vinaigrette flavored with Dijon mustard and garlic. We were all surprised at how delicious it turned out. Now we’ve perfected it by adding baby spinach and salted sunflower seeds. If you don’t want to spend the bit of time making our Salted Sunflower Seeds (page 59), it’s fine to substitute preroasted and salted sunflower seeds, or just raw seeds if you prefer. If you can’t find baby kale, use all baby spinach. This is a salad that makes you feel nourished and wonderfully healthy. —MYRA

Serves 4

WHITE WINE VINAIGRETTE

¹/₄ cup plus 2 tbsp/90 ml extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 clove garlic, crushed

Salt

Fresh ground black pepper

SALAD

3 cups/90 g packed baby kale

2¹/₂ cups/75 g packed baby spinach

1¹/₂ cups/160 g very thinly sliced carrots (about 2 medium)

¹/₂ cup/15 g packed coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

¹/₂ cup/70 g Salted Sunflower Seeds (page 59)

To make the vinaigrette: Combine the oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic, ¹/₄ tsp salt, and a big pinch of pepper in a glass jar and seal tightly. Shake vigorously until the dressing emulsifies. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

To make the salad: Combine the kale, spinach, carrots, and parsley in a large salad bowl. Toss with about two-thirds of the dressing. Add more dressing to taste. Serve topped with the sunflower seeds.