Romaine Salad with Spring Vegetables & Cucumber-Buttermilk Dressing

Name: Romaine Salad with Spring Vegetables & Cucumber-Buttermilk Dressing
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper; ⅛ tsp cayenne pepper; 4 oz/115 g sugar snap peas, trimmed and tough strings removed; 4 radishes; ½ tsp honey or agave syrup; ¼ tsp sweet paprika; 1 tsp fresh lemon juice; 2 thick spears asparagus, tough ends snapped off; 1 carrot, peeled; 1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and grated; 1 large head romaine lettuce; 1 tsp chopped fresh chives; 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley; 1 tbsp minced shallot; ¼ cup/60 ml buttermilk; 1 tbsp sour cream

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Brown Sugar Kitchen

By Tanya Holland

Published 2014

About

Romaine demands a dressing that clings. Like iceberg, it contains a lot of water and needs a flavorful dressing to boost its appeal. This dressing is subtle, but nicely balanced with the herbs and cucumber flavors. Buttermilk gives it the creamy quality of a rich dressing without the heaviness of one based on mayonnaise or cream.

Ingredients

Cucumber-Buttermilk Dressing

1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and grated
¼ cup/60 ml buttermilk

Method

To make the dressing

In a blender or food processor, combine the cucumber, buttermilk, sour cream, shallot, chives, parsley, honey, lemon juice, paprika, and cayenne, and process until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. (To make ahead, refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 1 week.)

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the snap peas just until tender, about 5