Rhubarb Salad with Little Gems, Hazelnuts & Parmesan
Total Time: 15 mins
Serves: 4 side salads, 2 main salads
Rhubarb has always been a favorite vegetables to work with. It’s light, tart and while we often see it in desserts, it lends itself really nicely a salad dressing! It’s like learning how to harness rhubarb’s tartness while also spreading the love with a bit of sweetness. Plus, it ends up looking bright pink!
This rhubarb salad combines my favorite rhubarb dressing with a bunch of other simple elements to make a starter salad that really sings. Gone are the days of boring side salads! No more! This salad is tangy, bright, salty and cheesy, but still light enough to crunch through on the way to starting your meal. If you are looking for an impressive dinner salad, look no further than this one.
This recipe uses little gem lettuce — no chopping needed, and they hold all your salad components in perfect little lettuce-sized cups. They are crisp like romaine, but less watery, and they are easy to clean, dry, toss together and come out looking supremely pretty.
This salad is everything we want in a fresh & fruity salad. Light strawberries, a perfect rhubarb dressing, crisp little gems and toasty nuts to hold it all together. It's best eaten with the little gem leaves still whole, so they can scoop up all the dressing and toppings into one refreshing bite.
You can make this salad dressing either by grating the ingredients, which makes a lovely texture for the dressing, or you can blend everything together for a nice, smooth pink dressing. It's amazing on salads, quinoa bowls, or even avocado toasts.
Rhubarb/Da Huang is an herb often used in Chinese Medicine! The stalks are used in the West as a popular food for pies and jams, or in this case salad dressing. In China, the roots have long been used to drain heat and treat pain caused by blood stagnation, including injuries. Rhubarb is wonderful for treating constipation, diarrhea, and high fevers.
INGREDIENTS
For Dressing
3/4 cup chopped Rhubarb
2 garlic cloves
1/4 small shallot
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon oregano
Kosher salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
For Salad
1/3 cup Rhubarb Dressing see recipe above
3 heads little gem lettuce
1/4 pound fresh strawberries
3 tablespoons hazelnuts
1 cup fresh mint leaves
2 ounces parmesan
Flaky salt
INSTRUCTIONS
For Dressing
If grating the dressing together, use a rasp-style grater to grate the rhubarb into a large bowl. Repeat this with the garlic and the shallot. Pour in the honey and red wine vinegar and whisk together. Continue to whisk as you gradually pour in the olive oil. It will begin to turn into a nice and emulsified dressing. Season with the oregano, then salt and pepper to taste.
If making this in a blender, add all the ingredients except for two tablespoons of olive oil, the oregano, salt and pepper to a blender. Blend until light pink and smooth, about 1 minute. Pour this into a small bowl and thin it out with the remaining oil. Season with the oregano and add salt and pepper to taste.
This salad dressing is best kept in a jar or airtight container and will store well in the fridge for up to a week.
For Salad
Prepare the rhubarb dressing. Set is aside.
Tear the little gems into a large bowl. Slice the strawberries and roughly chop the hazelnuts. Tear the mint leaves into big pieces.
Set a small pan over medium heat and toast the hazelnuts until they are a shade darker and fragrant, about 4-5 minutes.
Dress the little gems with half of the rhubarb dressing and give them a big toss. Add in the strawberries and mint leaves.
Plate the salad on a serving plate then sprinkle with the toasted nuts. Either grate or shave over the parmesan and sprinkle with flaky salt. Drizzle with more rhubarb dressing as preferred.
photo and recipe credits to Justine Snacks
