Summer’s Bounty: Salad of Carrot Tops, Kale, and Fennel Fronds with Roasted Garlic Tahini Dressing

In the Summer’s Bounty series, I’ll be focusing on creating recipes based around what I receive in my CSA share. This is my second year of feasting on amazing produce from One Straw Farm. Participating helps me keep fruits and vegetables as a top priority, feel more connected with my food and the earth, and support an organization that is doing commendable things. Also, it’s highly affordable! Please consider joining a CSA in your area this year.

It’s arrived. My favorite day of the year aka my first CSA share. Normally it would start in the beginning of June, but I had to join late because I was potentially going to be moving (yikes, glad I avoided that!). We got some beautiful veggies this week:

Carrots (with their tops – be sure to remove the tops immediately, otherwise the carrots themselves will soften much more quickly)
Kale
Fennel
Garlic
Onions
Anaheim peppers
Potatoes
Cabbage
Cucumbers

For today’s salad, I managed to (partially) use 5 out of 8! This meal was so fresh, so invigorating, and so not wanting for any animal products. I fed it to an old friend of mine who eats meat for pretty much every meal, who doesn’t know that I eat vegan now, and who was introduced to the dish with the simple introduction that it was a fresh summer salad. Yup, it’s vegan! I feel like this kind of dish is the essence of what I strive for when cooking vegan food. The fact that it’s vegan isn’t even relevant. It’s just delicious in any regard!

I wish I could offer more specific measurements, especially with the dressing, but I really just taste as I go and try to adjust when necessary, and I’m confident that your palate can guide you too! The step with the lemon juice and vinegar is important. It helps to break down some of the bitterness of the raw greens before adding the dressing.

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Salad of carrot tops, kale, and fennel fronds with roasted garlic tahini dressing
Serves 2 sort of hungry people, or 3-4 people as a side

Roasted Garlic Tahini Dressing (not pictured)
1 head of garlic
olive oil
~2 tb tahini
~2 tb red wine vinegar
~1 tsp spicy brown mustard
~1 tb honey or agave nectar
more olive oil
smoked paprika
dried rosemary
s + p

Salad
3 stalks kale, stems removed, torn into bite-sized pieces, washed well
tops of 3 carrots, thicker stem parts removed, washed well
fronds of 1 fennel bulb, “hairy” parts only
1 anaheim pepper, seeds removed, sliced thinly
1 spring onion, white part only, sliced thinly
juice of 1/2 lemon
splash of red wine vinegar
Roasted garlic tahini dressing, to taste (or your favorite dressing, in which case, skip to the last part)

Roast the garlic. Slice off the roots part so all of the cloves are partially exposed. Gently massage olive oil around the outside of the head of garlic. Place on a baking sheet, with the exposed cloves side not facing down. Roast at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until very soft.

Assemble the dressing. Squeeze the roasted garlic out and combine with tahini, mustard, and honey. Emulsify by shaking or whisking, slowly adding olive oil until creamy consistency is reached. Add salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and dried rosemary to taste.

Assemble the salad. Combine the first 5 salad ingredients and integrate well. Add lemon juice and red wine vinegar and combine. Let sit for at least 30 minutes, then add dressing to taste and enjoy!

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So there you have it. An example of how I deal with my CSA! What have you been making with your CSA goodies lately?