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The Greenest Green Salad

Updated July 10, 2020

The Greenest Green Salad
Gentl and Hyers for The New York Times. Food stylist: Michelle Gatton. Prop stylist: Amy Wilson.
Total Time
20 minutes
Rating
4(2,947)
Comments
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The cookbook author Jessica Battilana's advice to home cooks is simple: "If you're going to spend your energy somewhere, spend it somewhere that matters." Put her philosophy into practice and make this simple, satisfying salad. All the ingredients can be easily found at any grocery store, and the salad will come together quickly in the kitchen, though it looks and tastes like it requires much more effort and time to prepare. Perhaps most happily, even the most discerning critics — the 4-and-under crowd — will delight in its flavor and crunch and politely ask for seconds. —Samin Nosrat

Featured in: A Green Goddess Dressing for When Speed Matters

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings
  • 2cups snap peas, trimmed
  • 2hearts of romaine lettuce, washed and cut into bite-size pieces
  • 2Persian or Japanese cucumbers, diced
  • 2green onions, thinly sliced
  • 1ripe avocado, cubed
  • 1recipe green goddess dressing
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Line a large plate with paper towels. Set aside. Bring a medium saucepan of generously salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the snap peas, and cook until just tender, about 90 seconds. Use a strainer to remove the peas onto the prepared plate, and spread out in a single layer. Allow to cool and dry completely (the dressing won’t stick to a wet snap pea). Cut each pea in half crosswise on the bias.

  2. Step 2

    In a large bowl, combine the snap peas, romaine, cucumbers and green onions. Mix well to combine. Add the avocado and about half the dressing. Mix gently with your hands until the salad is well coated with dressing, adding more if necessary. Taste, and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve cold, immediately. Cover and refrigerate remaining dressing for up to 1 week.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
2,947 user ratings
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Comments

These are snap peas we're talking about, not individual peas. pile them up and slice. There's only two cups. Shouldn't take more than a minute.

Let me highly recommend Dukes Mayonnaise. It the only widely available mayonnaise that doesn’t contain sugar. Didn’t realize that until I started reading ingredients in everything. No sugar and tastes great. Try it, you will like it.

Holy cow. This salad was so good I nearly forgot my own name. I did not have the snap peas, so I added some jicama for sweetness. I used basil, mint, dill, chives and parsley in the dressing. Served along side a perfect piece of salmon. To die for!

This was excellent. I used a mix of kale, frisée and butter lettuce. Added croutons. I will definitely make again.

I call this my Sunday salad. I bake a lot over the weekends and sometimes there’s a lot of…. Quality assurance that goes on. For example I quality assured an entire pan of cinnamon rolls in three days. When I need something green to balance things out, this is my go to. A few notes. -Dukes mayonnaise is the only mayonnaise. If you live somewhere where Dukes isn’t available, you should move. Alternatively it’s available on Amazon. It is the best mayonnaise, for many reasons, but it also does not have sugar which makes it excellent for recipes. Miracle Whip is not mayonnaise. -I like the crunch of the snap peas but can’t eat them totally raw. I blanch for about 30 seconds and dunk them straight into the ice bath. Brightens them up and keeps crisp. -Anchovy paste in a tube for obvious reasons -I love to add celery, spinach and kale to the mix. Easy on the kale it can overpower the other ingredients. Also will give you lawnmower burps. -Great as a meal with grilled chicken, grilled shrimp or grilled salmon. Divine With the exception of the amount of time it takes to boil water, this comes together in 10 mins or so for me.

I didn’t have cucumber so I substituted an ear of cooked corn kernels … the salad was a hit!

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Credits

Adapted from “Repertoire,” by Jessica Battilana

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