A Summer Basil Dressing

We've officially reached that part of the summer where I don't feel like cooking. The weather's been too nice. We've had birthday parties to go to and trips to the berry farm to make. I've been trying to get ahead by washing and prepping produce and ingredients in clusters rather than separately each day. 

This means that on Thursdays, when our CSA box comes into the house, I will wash and dry lettuces, dark greens like kale and chard, roasting all the things that want to be roasted (such as beets, carrots, potatoes), wash and chop things like green beans and put together any sauces or dressings that can be made ahead of time.

In her very soothing and reassuring book, An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace, Tamar Adler has a helpful essay about cooking in this manner. In fact, I found a lot of inspiration for making practical adjustments in the kitchen thanks to her book. She describes many of her very sensible methods, such as taking washed lettuces and laying them flat between layers of paper towels in a roasted pan then covering the whole thing up with plastic wrap.

That's a bit more than I am capable in the summer months (I know! Lazy, lazy!), so I just toss my lettuces into a clean produce bag, stuff a couple paper towels in there willy nilly, and put it in the fridge bin. This lazy person's method has worked out just fine for me. 

When it comes to what to deal with first, herbs are always the thing, especially the soft-stemmed types like basil and cilantro. Cilantro and parsley bunches get shoved into mason jars with a couple of inches of water at the bottom. A sandwich bag usually gets slapped on top of the leaves.

I find that basil can hardly stand to be in the fridge for more than a day before the edges start blackening. So I deal with that as soon as possible. If I have a large quantity, I will turn it into pesto or this caesar-inspired salad dressing, without the anchovies.

This dressing is the perfect thing to have in a big jar for whenever you do decide you need to eat something, anything now. Like, say, a green salad with some beets you've roasted. After you've dabbed on some dressing, fling on some walnuts that you wisely toasted earlier in the week. Lunch? Done.

If you have a piece of fish, perhaps a nice bit of sockeye, cook it in a pan with some butter and oil, spooning the fat over it while it cooks for about 6 or 7 minutes. Then flip it over and let the heat just kiss it. When you put it onto your plate, spoon some of this dressing on top, and you'll be the happiest lazy summer cook around.

Enjoy the rest of these hot, lazy days. They are fleeting!

Basil Caesar Salad Dressing

Makes 3 3/4 cups. 

Ingredients
4 tablespoons minced garlic scapes (or substitute 1 clove garlic) 
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed (about 2 lemons)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, preferably raw and unpasteurized
1/2 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
4 packed cups (about 6 ounces) basil, leaves only
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese 
Salt
Black pepper, freshly ground

Instructions
In a blender or food processor container, place garlic scapes, mustard, lemon juice, vinegar and basil. Pulse to combine. Scrape down sides if needed. While machine is running, slowly add olive oil. Stir in parmesan, add salt and pepper, adjusting to taste.

Green Scallion Oil

Last year, I learned to make pesto a different way. This was thanks to our CSA, which not only provided us with local produce, eggs from pastured hens, dairy, reef-net pink salmon and pastured meats, but recipes too!

I was used to throwing fresh basil leaves in with the other ingredients and hitting the 'on' button of my food processor as I drizzled in my olive oil. I had never blanched  basil before, as the CSA recipe instructed. It seemed almost blasphemous to dunk a bunch of something so intensely fragrant and fresh into a pot of boiling water - even if only for a couple of minutes.

But wanting to think of myself as a flexible sort of person, I tried it, and behold, the pesto stayed green for much longer than it ever had before. By the next day, it hadn't developed that darkened, off-color green that usually appeared on the surfaces of past batches of my "fresh" pesto. This version was still bright green and had retained its just-made taste. 

View fullsize

Enjoying time amongst friends.

The young onion plants in our garden (chives, scallions, spring onions) are just loving the cool, Spring weather we've been having. The morning drizzle that alternates with peeks of sunshine as the clouds shift overhead: perfect green scallion weather. So why not celebrate this tender green?

Here is a version of a flavored scallion oil, not pesto exactly as it is free of pine nuts, garlic or cheese. More of an herbal emulsion, it is filled with the first deep, green bite of spring as embodied by the scallion.

I found that blanching the green parts of the scallion tempered the onion taste slightly. The addition of a tiny bit of sugar brought a sweetness to the fore. You can use olive oil here, or a more neutral oil if for instance, you want to use it to garnish an Asian dish. This sauce can be drizzled on nearly anything - a salad, a poached egg, a piece of buttered bread.

I am told by a credible source that even turtles like this stuff!

Scallion Oil

(Makes 1 cup)

Ingredients

8 scallions, green parts only

½ cup spinach leaves

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon sugar

1 cup sunflower oil

Instructions

1. Bring large pot of water to boil.

2. Fill another bowl with ice water.

3. Add scallions and spinach leaves. Blanch for 1-2 minutes.

4. Place in ice water immediately. This will help keep your finished product maintain its color.

5. Remove from water, place in kitchen towel and squeeze out excess water.

6. Place ingredients in blender, blitz until you have a beautiful, bright green sauce.

7. Use within 5 days. The color will start to fade slightly toward the end but it will still be delicious!

Green Goddess Dressing with Roasted Garlic

So, okay. While living in winter darkness, dutifully swallowing my daily vitamin D and salmon oil capsules to maintain a positive mood, I consumed a lot, possibly gallons of Green Goddess Dressing.

My tarragon plant had gone dormant. So, I substituted some dried herbs. But my dressing was still green and creamy and a much-needed reminder of the eventual return of spring. I slathered it on lettuce, dunked cut-up carrots and celery in it and dipped crackers into it. I even poured it over quinoa-feta cakes.

Green Goddess Dressing may be a relic of the hippie sixties to some, but for me, it's a sustaining elixir. While the version you may be familiar with uses raw garlic, I like to use roasted garlic to temper some of the bite. I started doing this after my teenage niece, Alex, came over and said the dressing was a little "strong" for her tastes.

Roasted garlic provides grounding and offers voluptuousness to the lighter, more showy green notes.

I won’t hog you to myself anymore, Green Goddess. Now that Spring’s here, everyone ought to be enjoying your happy flavors.

Here's to sharing!

Green Goddess Dressing (adapted from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone) 

¾ c. sour cream or yogurt

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

½ cup chopped parsley

3 tablespoons chopped chives (or 2 tablespoons green onions)

1 ½ tablespoon chopped tarragon (or 1 teaspoon dried)

2 small garlic cloves

1 or 2 anchovies, depending on your preferred taste or ¼ teaspoon salt for vegetarians

Heat up a cast-iron skillet and toss in your cloves of garlic, skin still on. Let them blister and blacken, turning as needed.

Combine all the ingredients, including the roasted garlic, along with 2 tablespoons water in a blender or food processor. An immersion blender works too. Blend until smooth and pale green, the color of Spring. Taste and add more anchovy/salt if needed.

Slather on everything edible in sight. This dressing likes sturdy lettuces, such as large romaine leaves. Try it on quinoa cakes, veggies or crackers. Devour. Then devour some more.