Spring salad with savory granola

It's still early in the Minnesota growing season, so I couldn't find any of the prettier varieties of radishes, which would help in the looks department. Guess I'll have to make it again soon.

 

I made this one because I was looking for something to round out the outlines of a spring supper. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about savory granola, but there was only one way to find out.

Little gem and savory granola salad

Adapted just slightly from “Come Hungry: Salads, Meals and Sweets for People Who Live to Eat” by Melissa Ben-Isha“Come Hungry: Salads, Meals and Sweets forPeople Who Live to Eat” by Melissa Ben-Ishay, as published in the Star TribuneStar Tribune. The original recipe called for two small heads of little gem lettuce, but I opted for what looked good at the market, store and volunteers in my garden. I’d say this serves 6-ish, depending on what else you’re serving. Savory granola needs to be made ahead to have time to cool, but it keeps well at room temperature.

Ingredients

6  cups mixed greens such as butter head, mesclun and arugula
2 Persian cucumbers thinly sliced, or six mini snack size, sliced thinly, divided
3 radishes, thinly sliced, divided
1 shallot, thinly sliced, divided
Savory granola for garnish

Dressing:
1 small shallot, finely chopped
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ cup olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground pepper

Directions

Place lettuce in a large serving bowl along with most of the cucumbers, radishes and sliced shallots. Toss with the dressing as desired and top with remaining cucumbers, radishes and sliced shallots.

For dressing, mix chopped shallot, mustard, olive oil, lemon juice, vinegary, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper in a small bowl. This makes plenty, so count on having some leftover because the salad doesn’t need all of that to be well coated. You can make it ahead and bring it to room temperature before mixing. It stays pretty well blended.

Savory granola

1 ½ cups rolled oats
½ cup pepitas
½ cup sliced almonds
½ cup puffed quinoa
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 egg whites
⅓ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ cup ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine oats, pepitas, almonds, quinoa and sesame seeds in a large bowl.

In a small bowl, mix egg whites, olive oil, garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper. Pour over oat mixture and toss to coat well. Spread on prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes. Stir, and bake for another 15 minutes or until golden brown and toasted. This makes way, way, way more than you’re going to need to serve as a salad garnish, but you won’t mind. Unless you mind having a shelf-stable inhalable snack in your house.

Rating: It has merit. The salad dressing can be made ahead and holds up well, and the savory granola falls into the category of Uncle Al Sicherman's standard response when asked how he was: "Odd, but likeable." The salad has fairly assertive flavors from the shallots, so if you're in the market for a mild-mannered supporting player, this might not be it. But if you're open to a bit of zestiness, this delivers nicely, and you can mix up the greens/veggies seasonally.

Nit: Puffed quinoa isn't available on the shelves of every grocery store. I grew tired of looking so I puffed my own. If you opt to do so, toast a very small bit at a time in a large shallow pan over medium high heat, shaking the pan as if popping popcorn, for up to a minute or just until it smells nutty. Otherwise you'll end up with something that tastes like burnt old maids in a popcorn bowl.