I’m not sure this qualifies as a recipe, but it was such a lovely combination that I wanted to share!  This salad is beautifully and unabashedly green, and definitely sings of summer.  What’s not to like?

I love to use mint in my kitchen — tisanes, cocktails, cookies, grain salads, pastas — even with its assertive flavor, mint is incredibly versatile.  Also, it’s such a hearty plant (i.e. it’s hard to kill it even if you try), that if you’ve ever planted it in the ground anywhere near your garden, chances are you have a steady supply!

Though I use mint quite a lot in my cooking, it wasn’t until reading through The Herbfarm Cookbook that it occurred to me to use mint in a lettuce-based salad.  Its (for lack of a better word) minty taste is wonderful when juxtaposed with cool cucumber and tangy parsley.  And the soft butter lettuce provides a wonderful base for this piquant mixture.

I imagine that other herbs could work nicely in the salad too — tarragon, chervil, and cilantro come to mind, though probably not all at once (or maybe!? get crazy!)

Mint and Parsley Salad with Persian Cucumbers

1 medium head butter/bibb lettuce, torn into bite size pieces
1 large handful italian flat leaf parsley, leaves only
1 large handful mint, leaves only
2 small persian cucumbers, thinly sliced

salad dressing of your choice (I used a tangy vidalia onion peppercorn dressing)

Combine the lettuce, parsley, mint, and cucumbers in a bowl. Toss with desired dressing. Enjoy!

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Simple Basil Buttermilk Salad Dressing

- Simplest Summer Fruit Melange

- Gin and Red Tea Cocktail with Fresh Mint

Simple Basil Buttermilk Salad Dressing

1/2 c. chilled buttermilk
1/2 c. organic / all natural mayonnaise
1 large packed handful of fresh basil leaves
large pinch of sea salt

Combine all ingredients using a regular or hand blender. Alternatively, chop basil finely and combine ingredients by hand. Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups. Keeps refrigerated for a week (at least).
Ideas for use: dress a green salad, drizzle over cubed pan-roasted tofu, toss with boiled chunks of fingerling potatoes and chopped green onions

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My thumb is ever-so-slightly more green today! Why? Because I just harvested the first lettuce plants from my winter garden! I started a mixture of heirloom red and green lettuce seeds in containers way back in November, transplanted the seedlings in December, and have been watching them grow ever since. During these short winter days, everything grows ….very….. slowly, but it does grow nonetheless. I’ve been waiting, not quite sure when I was supposed to harvest, but when I went to check on the garden a couple days ago, I finally knew that the time had come! (can you tell I’m excited?)

I am using the ‘cut and come again’ method for growing and harvesting my lettuce plants. With the ‘cut and come again’ method, the young leaves from a single head of lettuce are harvested up to three times during its growing season. You simply wait until the head of lettuce is a decent size (somewhere between a softball and a soccer ball), then cut the entire head approximately 1-2 inches from the base. New leaves will then grow to replace those you just harvested. Besides having a steady supply of young greens, this method allows a gardener to plant seedlings much closer together than a traditional garden–planting on as little as a 4 inch diamond provides the lettuce plants with enough space to thrive.

Also in the garden I’ve got lacinto kale, broccoli, collard greens, spinach, and peas. So far, only the lettuce is mature enough to harvest. I think the kale is next, then probably the peas and broccoli. The collards and spinach haven’t grown too much since I transplanted them as seedlings, which makes me think that those might be a bust, but hey, four out of six ain’t bad…

I decided to plant lettuce because I love salads, and because lettuce is one of the easiest, quickest plants to grow (it needs only about three inches of soil, and can be grown in mobile ‘salad tables’ or even in old dresser drawers with some holes drilled in the bottom). Until now, salad dressings for me were either a simple homemade vinaigrette, or came from the grocery store. I like creamy dressings a lot, but had never tried my hand at making them. A simple base mixture of buttermilk and good-quality all-natural mayonnaise is a great canvas for experimentation. Here I added a large handful of fresh basil since my indoor plant was sagging under the weight of its own leaves. Some other ideas are:

-dill and green onion
-cucumber (and dill — optional)
-parsley and moroccan preserved lemon
-apricot and poppy seeds
-cilantro
-granulated onion and garlic
-chopped chipotle pepper with a little adobo sauce

… just use your imagination!

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Simple Potato Latkes

- Lacinto Kale with Lemon and Candied Ginger