CSA Recipe: Fresh Turnip Salad with Curry Vinaigrette

I love being part of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. It is amazing to be part of a like-minded community, to invest your money in healthy food grown by hard-working, honest people (who we’ve met!), and to completely plan for and eat with the seasons. I even like the uncertainty of what kind of season we’ll have, how much the weather will affect “our” crops, finding out what new veggies we’ll be tasting each season, etc., etc.. But one of the best parts: the recipes we get! Tonight, we tried out Chef Boni’s (from our CSA, Harmony Valley Farm) Fresh Turnip Salad with Curry Vinaigrette. Even as I write this an hour later, my taste buds are still dancing in delight (the Chardonnay couldn’t have ANYTHING to do with that, could it?).  I’m already excited for tomorrow’s dinner. Most definitely it will involve some of the leftover vinaigrette.

Here’s the recipe for the vinaigrette:

In blender or bowl, measure the following ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons curry powder
2 tablespoons honey
1 green onion or green garlic, small chop
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

Blend all of the above together. With blender running (or if in bowl, while whisking constantly), slowly add 1 cup sunflower oil. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

Salad preparation:
2 cups salad greens
4 baby white turnip bulbs, thinly sliced. Break green tops into bite size pieces and add to salad.
4 radish bulbs, thinly sliced. Break greens into bite sized pieces and add to salad.
3 tablespoons sunflower seeds
1/4 cup toasted almonds, slivered or roughly chopped

Mix gently, then portion onto four plates and drizzle with curry vinaigrette.

…so you might be thinking, “I don’t have all that!” No worries! We didn’t either. In fact, we didn’t have the radishes or radish greens, the almonds, or the sunflower oil. We just eliminated the first three, and for the oil, we just used olive oil. It was delicious. Maybe not as delicious as intended (though I’m having a hard time imagining a tastier salad), but wonderful nonetheless. That’s the beauty of most in-season recipes ~ you can do with them what you will…and with what you have left in the fridge.

Enjoy!