csa cooking: basil green goddess dressing

Our CSA started this week! We couldn’t have been more ready. This is our third year in a row getting a share with the Full Plate Farm Collective, and the second year in a row getting a fruit share with Finger Lakes Fruit Bowl. The Full Plate Farm Collective, for those of you non-Ithacans out there, is a group of three farms that work together to grow produce for all the shareholders in the collective. The model allows each farm to specialize in a few crops, and we as shareholders get to enjoy the bounty! Our share usually runs through mid-October, and we’re continually impressed with the variety of produce we receive each week.

To kick off the season, our first share included a (beautiful) head of lettuce, a spicy salad mix (baby kales, mustards, etc.), baby arugula, garlic scapes, a large bunch each of dill and basil, a bunch of kale, an overwintered beet, and a pint of jewel-red strawberries. We also received strawberries and rhubarb in our fruit share, so it was like Christmas came in June this year at the Eggs on Sunday household. We are so ready for locally-grown fruit!

I’ve been really into making homemade salad dressings lately, especially since late spring/early summer around here is salad green central. I like to make a big batch on the weekend, then have it on hand to drizzle over salads, spread on sandwiches, and use as a dip for vegetables throughout the week.

The big bunch of basil we received in the share beckoned to me to be used as something other than pesto (honestly, I’m just not enough in summer mode yet to want basil pesto). I remembered a Basil Green Goddess dressing I made a year or two ago after seeing it on the Barefoot Contessa, and knew it was this bunch of basil’s destiny.

There are a few things I adore about this dressing: it’s delicate pale green color, the way the creaminess of the dressing slightly mellows out the basil flavor, and the fact that it makes a TON so you can make it once and enjoy it all week. Plus, who doesn’t love a dressing with the name “green goddess?”

We had it spooned over a salad made with the head lettuce, spicy salad greens, and thinly shaved beet. It was a perfect start to the CSA season!

(PS – Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there!)

______________________________________________________________

Basil Green Goddess Dressing

from Barefoot Contessa at Home

I’ve made this dressing both with and without the anchovy paste, depending on whether or not I have it in the house. I’m happy to say it’s delicious either way!

Ingredients

1 cup good mayonnaise
1 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts (6 to 7 scallions)
1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
2 teaspoons chopped garlic (you could also substitute the equivalent amount of garlic scapes)
2 teaspoons anchovy paste (see note in recipe header)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup sour cream

Directions

Combine the basil through salt & pepper in a food processor or blender. Blend until creamy and smooth. Add the sour cream and pulse just until blended. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Makes about 2 cups.

Advertisement