another hippie salad dressing

Here's a recipe for one of my favorite salad dressings, Annie's Goddess. It's really easy, and is better than Annie's in a couple of ways: my version is cheap, and it can be gluten-free if you use wheat-free tamari.

Goddess Dressing

makes about 1 1/3C

120g tahini
1T tamari
2T apple cider vinegar
1/2C water
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
2 or 3 sprigs of parsley--leaves only
pepper

If you have an immersion blender you can make this right in a wide-mouthed jar. Just add the ingredients in the order written, then blend till the parsley's pretty finely chopped. Otherwise blend it in your big blender, being careful not to thoroughly emulsify the parsley into the rest of it, and transfer to a jar. When it's first made it's the right thickness for salad dressing, but as it rests in the fridge it thickens up so that it's more like a dip. I like it like that, and roll my lettuce leaves to dip in a little cup of it, but you could always add more water if you want it to be runnier.

I couldn't decide which photo to use to illustrate this post: the top on was taken with a toy camera, and the watermelon's the only thing in focus, but I sort of like it; the bottom one is a better representation, I guess, but it's kind of dull.

zucchini spelt salad

I got zucchini in my vegetable box last week because I forgot to ask them for a substitute in time. Since I hate zucchini I had to think of a way to prepare it which would disguise its flavor. This recipe from the Los Angeles Times looked good, except that the zucchini would still taste of zucchini if prepared as written, so I changed it around a little and was really pleased with the result:

Spelt Salad with Zucchini and Augula

180g cracked spelt*
450ml water
250g zucchini, halved lengthwise
1 spring onion, halved lengthwise
juice of half a lemon
1T olive oil
salt and pepper
2t fresh marjoram, minced
half a bunch of arugula, torn
40g pine nuts**, toasted

Cook the spelt with the water in your rice cooker on the brown rice cycle, or on the stove for about 25 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the vegetables. Rub the cut surfaces of the zucchini with salt and let rest for at least half an hour. Brush the spring onion with olive oil and cook on a stripy pan till softened. When the zucchini's time is up, squeeze the juice from it as best you can, brush the pieces with oil and cook on your stripy pan till no longer springy but still al dente. After they've cooled sufficiently, slice the onion and zucchini into thickish slices--maybe 1/4".

When the spelt's done cooking, transfer it to a big bowl and toss with the olive oil, lemon juice, marjoram, and salt and pepper. Add the cooked veg, but let it cool a while before mixing in the arugula. Scatter the pine nuts over the top right before serving.

* I cracked it myself with my little mill; if you don't have a mill you could substitute cracked wheat or coarse bulgar. If you use bulgar, cook it on the white rice cycle, or for 10 minutes on the stove.

** Trader Joe's now has pine nuts from Korea, which should not cause 'pine mouth' as that's associated with pine nuts from China.