Editor

Rainbow Salad w/ Green Goddess dressing

Serves 8-10 No good story has ever started with someone saying, “Remember that one time I had a salad…”. That is until now. I get it- salads can be a hard sell at the best of times, let alone during the High Holy Brunching Season, which is Pride Month. However, experience has made me rich in knowing that you do in fact, need to partake of something fresh to offset all of those deliciously inviting carb-laden delights (I refer you to my Mixed Berry Croissant Bake). I mean, saying bottomless mimosas are healthy because “They have form in them” isn’t something your body will thank you for later. So, in an effort to balance the culinary scales, I give you my Rainbow Salad—a colorfully packed platter brimming with fresh textures sure to make you feel positively proud and very grown-up that you’re balancing your dietary intake. You can take a shortcut and literally dump all the components into a bowl, but for maximum visual punch, it just takes a few minutes more time to dress a platter into a colorful arrangement. “Being gay is like being left-handed. Some people are, most people aren’t, and nobody knows why. It’s not right or wrong; it’s just how things are!”

Ingredients

Green Goddess dressing

1 cup parsley, packed
1 cup watercress, packed
1/3 cup snipped chives
2 Tbsp chopped tarragon
2 Tbsp chopped dill
3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 anchovies
1/2 cup mayonnaise
salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Rainbow salad

6 cups salad greens
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved (or quartered)
1 cup carrots, shredded
1 small yellow bell pepper, diced
1 cup English cucumber, chopped
1 cup blueberries
1 cup purple cabbage, shredded
1 cup red onion, sliced

Method

To make the dressing

Put the herbs, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and anchovies into a blender or food processor. Process until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the machine a couple of times, as necessary.
Add the mayo and process briefly to combine. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Adjust any of the other ingredients to taste at this time and process to blend in
Put the dressing in an airtight container and refrigerate until needed. Will keep a minimum of one week, refrigerated

Assemble the salad

1. Arrange the salad green on a large serving platter as your base
2. Top with the rest of the colored fruits and veggies. You can take your time and arrange them in a rainbow pattern, or you can throw everything together in a large bowl
3. Dress the assembled salad with the prepared dressing and serve

The salad is dressed with an excellent “Green Goddess” dressing (sounding resplendent!)—a smooth, creamy, verdant dressing that can double as a dip. The fantastic thing about this dressing is that it is very much to taste. The quantities I’ve provided in the recipe are a great starting point, but feel free to tweak them if you prefer certain ingredients. You can store any unused dressing in an airtight jar in your fridge for up to one week.

Bio:

Award-winning Irish, Canadian baker, chocolate aficionado, and LGBTQ+ father of two, Gavan Knox is the only competitor from Eastern Canada to appear on the third season of Food Network Canada’s The Great Chocolate Showdown, where he defined his baking philosophy of taking point on using unexpected ingredients and flavours.

Having appeared on numerous Canadian daytime TV shows including CTV’S The Marilyn Denis Show, Cityline, CP24, CTV Calgary, CHCH and The Kelly Kutrara Show, Knox has become the resident baking expert on CTV’S The Social and CTV’S Your Morning.

Knox has also been featured in major publications such as Foodism Toronto, The Montreal Guardian, The Guardian, Delicious Magazine, Gay Times and Attitude.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crumbsinmybeardyyz

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Website: https://crumbsinmybeard.ca

Media: https://crumbsinmybeard.ca/in-the-press/