SALAD OF SPRING MESCLUN, BLOSSOMS, AND WILD GREENS, WITH LOVAGE-ALLIUM DRESSING

Salad of Spring Mesclun, Blossoms, and Wild Greens, with Lovage-Allium Dressing image

Provided by Food Network

Time 30m

Yield 4 servings

Number Of Ingredients 30

Green and red leaf lettuce
Spring mesclun mix (any variety of young greens will do: mustards, arugula, kale, amaranth, perilla, raddichio, etc).
Fresh lovage leaves
Fresh oregano leaves
Fresh sage leaves
Fresh thyme leaves
Fresh marjoram leaves
Young dandelion leaves
Young fireweed and/or river beauty (epilobium species) shoots
Snips yarrow
Edible flowers, as available (nasturtiums, fireweed, begonia petals, borage flowers, violas, pansies, etc. Please be certain that a particular species is edible before ingesting!)
Snipped chives
3/4 cup light olive oil (fresh flaxseed oil is a nice, nutty substitute)
A dash lemon oil, if available (can be omitted)
A few dashes good quality apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup lighter variety balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup water
A dash umeboshi plum vinegar
1 tablespoon minced shallots
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
1 tablespoon finely chopped lovage leaves
Dash ground celery seed
Dash dry mustard or 1/4 teaspoon of whole grain fresh mustard
Dash red pepper
Dash ground fenugreek
Pinch nigella seeds (can be skipped if unavailable)
Small pinch nutmeg
Small pinch turmeric
A very tiny hint cinnamon

Steps:

Toss greens, herbs, and blossoms together with plenty of snipped chives and lovage leaves. (Tear larger leaves to bite size pieces. A kitchen scissors works well to snip lovage and herbs down to size). Combine dry and liquid dressing ingredients, to taste, in a glass cruet and shake thoroughly before sprinkling over salad greens.