Whole Foods Copycat Detox Salad

June and the first zucchini appeared on Thursday, which marks the beginning of the great annual abundance that will become the great annual surplus. I'm trying to stay ahead of it this year by using the early zucchini for everything before they get too big: grilled with herbs, sautéed simply with olive oil and garlic, sliced thin in a salad with feta and mint. When they're small and young they're genuinely good. When they're larger they're fine. When they're enormous — and you'll find them enormous if you take a day off — they're for bread or for giving away.

Made the first pasta primavera of summer — the version that uses whatever's good right now, which means peas and zucchini and spring onions and herbs and very good olive oil. No cream, no elaborate sauce, just the vegetables and the pasta and the cooking water and the olive oil forming something together. The dish that requires the least recipe and the most attention to what the market or garden offers on a specific day.

The blog has found a new readership since the roast chicken post. People are exploring back through the archives, finding the first maple post from years ago, finding the rhubarb jam posts and the farm notes. I've been getting messages from people who say: I read the whole thing from the beginning. I find this both moving and slightly bewildering — that a widower's Vermont farm notes would be worth reading from the beginning. But people are kind about what they find useful. You take it on faith.

Carol's garden: beans up, tomatoes setting, zucchini (her first) appearing this week. She called to report the zucchini with the same tone of discovery that all first-time zucchini growers have, just before they realize what they've gotten into.

The pasta primavera was dinner, and it was good in the way that simple things are good when you’re paying attention—but the zucchini and spring onions that didn’t make it into the pot ended up being lunch the next day in a different form entirely. This detox salad is what I turn to when the garden is handing things over faster than any one dish can absorb them: it’s raw, it’s bright, it keeps well in the refrigerator, and it asks very little of you beyond a sharp knife and a lemon. Carol would understand it immediately.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 0 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

2 cups small broccoli florets, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded purple cabbage
1 cup shredded kale, stems removed, leaves thinly sliced
1 cup shredded Brussels sprouts (about 6–8 sprouts)
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon tahini
1 teaspoon honey or maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Make the dressing. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, tahini, honey, salt, and pepper until smooth and emulsified. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Prep the vegetables. Finely chop the broccoli florets so they’re close in size to the other shredded vegetables. Shred the cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, and carrots—a food processor with a shredding disc speeds this up considerably, but a sharp knife and a little patience works just as well.
Combine. Add all the vegetables to a large bowl. Pour the dressing over and toss thoroughly to coat. The kale and cabbage will soften slightly as they absorb the dressing.
Add mix-ins. Fold in the dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds. Toss once more.
Rest and serve. Let the salad sit for 5–10 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to come together. It keeps well refrigerated for up to 3 days—the vegetables hold their texture and the dressing only improves with time.

Nutrition (per serving)

Whole Foods Copycat Detox Salad — What the Garden Gives, You Use