csa farm fresh salad

We haven't been doing much grocery shopping lately. It's too hot and we're not lucky enough to live in a neighbourhood with one of those fancy air-con supermarkets. While there is appeal to standing in front of a popsicle fridge with the doors wide open and my tongue stuck to the rack, it's just not going to happen. Neither is shopping during a heatwave in an overcrowded and tiny market in Chinatown fighting for elbow room. Nope, not my idea of happy fun times. Luckily, we've been CSA blessed. We split a share with friends and every Tuesday we get a huge load of veggies to be eaten up throughout the week. This was last week's share and here's what yesterday's half share looked like.

If you live in the Pacific Northwest, you are well aware that there is a heat wave happening. We're wimps and we just can't handle the heat. There's no way that I'll be turning on the oven, the stove or even make a pot of coffee. I tried my hand at cold-brewing coffee again (this time a different & more successful recipe) and it turned out great. So for dinner, I turned to my csa share for inspiration and decided that a gigantic bowl of salad would do nicely. It was perfectly crunchy and full of flavour. And it's flexible....just add in what you've got. The dressing which I had planned as some kind of asian ranch actually turned out good, especially considering that I didn't have any mayo to thicken the dressing at all. Consider this a runny buttermilk asian vinaigrette of sorts. It's runny but it tastes great. But add mayo if that's your thing.

Oh, and I'll be heading out on holiday next month and would love if a Vancouver-ite could take over our half of the csa share while we're gone. So if you are around throughout August and love the idea of organic and locally grown produce, please send me an email for more information. GONE!

csa farm fresh salad
1 small head cabbage, chopped
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 head of broccoli, finely diced
2 radishes, diced
2 T chopped onion, diced
2 large handfuls of walnuts, chopped
2 handfuls of raisins

dressing
1/3 c buttermilk
1 small lemon, juiced
1/2 t fresh ginger, minced
1 T olive oil
1 T soy sauce
1/4 t agave syrup
a few shakes of sriracha

Add all the vegetables into a large bowl and toss with the raisins and walnuts. In a measuring cup, blend together the dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Toss well. This dressing is runny. If you like a thicker dressing, cut out some of the buttermilk and sub in some mayo.