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Seasonal salad of local produce

The Culinary Institute of America · 10 min video

Read about cucumbers in the BrightCulinary Book

Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
  • plant-based mayonnaise
  • saffron
Spread a base of saffron plant-based mayonnaise and set a pastry ring on it for structure and height.
Saffron mayonnaise base and the ring
  • wild asparagus
  • cucumbers
  • French breakfast radish
  • turnip
Start with the heavier ingredients: wild asparagus, then Thumbelina cucumber, diced breakfast radish and turnip matchsticks salted overnight.
  • white asparagus
  • radicchio
  • white chicory
  • tops of the raw beans
Add lacto-fermented white asparagus, fermented radicchio, and raw white chicory compressed in ice water to make it crisp; then the bean tops.
  • smoked hazelnuts
  • smoked rapeseed oil
  • sherry vinegar
Add a light touch of dressing: lightly toasted smoked hazelnuts with smoked rapeseed oil and sherry vinegar. No salt, since the fermented elements season it.
  • purple frills
  • rocket
  • kohlrabi
  • fennel
  • asparagus shoots
  • red vein sorrel
  • yarrow
  • fig leaf
Add purple frills, rocket and kohlrabi, then fennel tops, asparagus shoots, red vein sorrel, a little yarrow and fig leaf.
Garden leaves and herbs
  • chive
  • nagella
Finish with chive and nigella flower petals, rocket and sage flower.
Flowers and finishing
  • sage flower
Lift off the ring, tidy loose bits and finish with a little more hazelnut and smoked oil dressing.