Micki Eats (mostly gluten and dairy free)

Summer is the season for dandelion greens. This salad has a very sharp flavor, and if you love garlic and the saltiness of anchovies, you are going to love this one. Myself, I love garlic, but I’m rather averse to anchovies. However, in this salad, they really work well with the bitter dandelion greens.

Although the savory croutons are optional, I’ve included the instructions for making them as well.

Ingredients

• 2 bunches of dandelion greens, trimmed of stems and coarsely chopped
• 5 anchovy filet, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 tablespoons of olive oil
• fresh ground pepper
• savory croutons (directions below)

Directions

1. In the bottom of a large salad serving bowl, mash the anchovies and garlic together with the back of a fork to create a paste.
2. Gradually whisk in olive oil and pepper.
3. Add the greens to the bowl and toss with dressing.
4. (optional) Add the croutons and toss.

Directions for Savory Croutons

1. Using 3-4 slices of day old bread, cut the bread into 1″ cubes.
2. Heat 4 tbsp of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.
3. Add the bread cubes and 2 tsp of herbes de provence. Saute the bread cubes until they are golden brown and delicious.
4. Set aside to let cool. Or, make ahead and store them in an airtight container for up to several days.

How Not to Screw It Up

1. Stick to making this in the summer when dandelion greens are in season. When they’re in season, they have broad, green leaves. The center stems are very bitter, and when you get these greens off-season, there is too little green and too much stem. Ick!
2. The texture of the dressing is very chunky. That’s part of the point. It’s not a smooth emulsion of garlic and anchovy like you get out of a bottle (thank goodness!). This is a dressing with chunks of garlic and anchovy. However, spending the elbow grease and time to really combine the garlic and anchovy into a paste creates a more unified flavor-–at least your chunks contains both garlic and anchovy.
3. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle to make the garlic-anchovy paste, you can add the garlic and anchovies to the bottom of your salad bowl and mash them together with the back of a fork.