Cardamom and Tea

green goddess salad with tahini and apricots

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When I was a little kid, my mom grew nasturtiums, and my sister and I used to pick and eat them right from the ground to freak out the other neighborhood kids. Nowadays, I don’t often buy edible flowers. They’re a bit of an expensive habit if you don’t grow them yourself. But a couple weeks ago, my friend Mai gave me a bunch of chive blossoms from her garden! I felt like I was back in my parents’ backyard, with a little patch of nasturtiums and no regard for the effort it took to get them growing there. This time, I used Mai’s chive blossoms for a much better purpose than a practical joke. I made this tahini and apricot green goddess salad!

You certainly don’t need your own chive blossoms to make this green goddess salad special. But if you’ve got them growing right now, go ahead and throw them in. You also don’t need to use apricots, and can substitute any stone fruit of your choosing. Nectarines or peaches would work really nicely here. The dressing itself is super delicious and adaptable. Feel free to increase the amount of tahini a smidge, but I just love this particular balance.

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green goddess salad with tahini and apricots

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  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 small clove garlic (3g)
  • 1 medium bunch chives (30g)
  • 1 small bunch basil, leaves only (30g leaves)
  • 1/2 cup sour cream (115g)
  • 2 tablespoons mayo (30g)
  • 2 tablespoons tahini (30g)
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice (45g)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 6oz bag spinach (170g bag)
  • 3 large apricots (315g) (can sub peaches or nectarines)
  • 6 small tomatoes (230g)
  • 3 Persian cucumbers (215)
  • One 14-oz can chickpeas, rinsed and strained (400g can)
  • optional: a few minced chives and/or chive blossoms for garnish

Instructions

  1. Place the garlic in a food processor fitted with the blade (or in a blender), and pulse to finely mince. Add the chives, basil, and sour cream, and blend until the sour cream turns green and the chives and basil are completely puréed. Add the mayo, tahini, lemon juice, and salt, and continue to blend until combined.
  2. Place the spinach in a large salad bowl. Slightly toss with some of the dressing. Top with the apricots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and chickpeas. Top with more dressing, and garnish with chive blossoms.

Notes

To make ahead: The dressing can be made for guests up to a day ahead of time (and keeps really well leftover for a few days). All the veggies can be prepped ahead of time, and everything tossed together at the last minute. If you’re slicing the apricots ahead of time, coat them in a little bit of lemon juice to keep them from oxidizing.

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watermelon wedge salad

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The iceberg wedge salad is an old fashioned steakhouse staple, which always makes me think of wood paneled rooms, tufted leather booths, and smoke-filled air. This particular image is admittedly more from a movie than reality. But it certainly doesn’t rank very high on the whimsy scale. And right now (/pretty much every day) I’m in the mood for wooden picnic tables, sunny skies, and fresh air. So while this watermelon salad was inspired by the steakhouse classic, it belongs at all your summer BBQs, picnics, and potlucks, and nowhere near stuffy air.

I incorporated a few flavors you might be more used to seeing in a watermelon salad. I subbed feta in place of blue cheese, and sprinkled some sumac on top (it’s the perfect thing to add a little extra brightness). But you could totally go traditional on this one and use your favorite roquefort while skipping the sumac. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can thin out full-fat plain yogurt with a little bit of whole milk (although the flavor and consistency will be a bit different than the real deal). But whatever you do, don’t skimp on the chives!

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watermelon wedge salad

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  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 5 generous servings

Ingredients

  • 1 large head iceberg lettuce, cut into 5 1-inch-thick rounds (500g)
  • 1/2 cup buttermilk (115g)
  • 1/4 cup mayo (60g)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice (15g)
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (1.5g)
  • 1 cup feta crumbles, divided in half (130 g total)
  • 1/3 cup chopped chives (15g)
  • 1/4 of a medium watermelon, cut into 5 1-inch-thick wedges (850g)
  • 2 diced Persian cucumbers (130g)
  • 2 diced roma tomatoes (130g)
  • 2–3 sliced radishes (30g)
  • 3/4 teaspoon sumac (2g)

Instructions

  1. Place the iceberg rounds/wedges on a large serving platter or individual plates.
  2. Whisk together the buttermilk, mayo, lemon juice, salt, half of the feta, and half the chives. Use the whisk to break up the feta. Once it’s relatively smooth, pour about half over the iceberg pieces.
  3. Top each dressed iceberg piece with a watermelon wedge, and top each with more dressing. Sprinkle on cucumber, tomato, radishes, sumac, and the rest of the feta and chives. Serve immediately.

Notes

To make ahead: the components (including the dressing) will keep well stored separately in the refrigerator for a few days. If you’re short on space and containers, you can store the cucumbers and tomatoes together, with the radishes placed on top. Leftovers are still delicious, but it’s best dressed at the last minute (try to dress as much as you think you’ll eat right away).

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