Description
Little Gem Salad with avocado, radishes, cucumber, pickled onions, pepitas, sunflower sprouts, in a Homemade Dilly Ranch Dressing. See notes for a vegan option.
Ingredients
Units
- Little Gem Lettuce- 3-4 heads, leaves separated, washed (or sub 2 romaine hearts, torn)
- 1 cup cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup radishes, thinly sliced (watermelon radish is nice here)
- 1 avocado, cut into chunks
- 1 cup sunflower sprouts (or microgreens)
- 1/4 cup pickled red onions, or pickled shallots (or sub thinly sliced red onion)
- 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (or sunflower seeds)
- 1 tablespoon tarragon leaves, optional
- optional additions: thinly shaved fennel, thinly sliced kohlrabi or salad turnips, matchstick carrots, grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, blanched green beans
Dilly Ranch Dressing (you won’t use all) see notes for vegan
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1–2 garlic cloves, finely minced
- 1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
- 2 tablespoons parsley chopped- optional
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh cracked peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon white or Apple Cider vinegar
Instructions
- If making the quick pickled onions or pickled shallots, start these first.
- Make the dressing, by whisking the mayo, buttermilk, and sour cream in a bowl until smooth, stir in the remaining ingredients, and place in the fridge- you want this cold!
- Separate the little gem lettuce leaves. Tear any extra-large ones in half, but leave any smaller ones whole. Wash and spin dry or pat dry ( or spread out on a towel on the counter and let air dry.
- Place the lettuce leaves in a big bowl, and add the remaining ingredients. At this point, you could refrigerate until serving. Right before serving toss with a little cold dressing- a little at a time- you will not need all. Just enough to coat each leaf generously.
- Taste! Season the salad with a little salt and a squeeze of lemon juice to taste. You want the salad to taste “punchy”, to balance out all those fresh herbs.
Notes
Substitutions: Yes, you can substitute full-fat plain yogurt for the sour cream- but I would add a teaspoon or two of olive oil to the dressing.
For a Vegan Version: Add fresh dill to this Vegan Ranch Dressing or try this Herby Hemp Dressing here.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 313
- Sugar: 5.6 g
- Sodium: 268.8 mg
- Fat: 22.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 24.3 g
- Fiber: 12.7 g
- Protein: 10.7 g
- Cholesterol: 8.3 mg