Bagna Cauda Salad

- Amanda

This is the final installment of the Counterfeit Cook Lunch Series. We’ve had shrimp and turkey, and now it’s time for a palate-cleansing salad. At a recent visit to Eataly, which is up the street from our office, I ate at the “vegetable restaurant,” which to my amazement really does serve only vegetables.

I’m a sucker for anything with bagna cauda (a garlic and anchovy sauce for dipping vegetables that translates as "warm bath") so the rest of the menu melted away as soon as I saw a vegetable and bagna cauda salad. The waiter delivered a plate covered with a tangle of crisp vegetable shavings, all slicked with a thin, pungent bagna cauda dressing.

At home, I improvised with a group of vegetables that are available in most grocery stores – by no means should you feel like you have to use all the vegetables in the following recipe; just try for 4 of them so there’s enough variety, and adjust the amounts accordingly. The salad holds up well, which is important for a packed lunch. But I may just serve this at my next dinner party.

Bagna Cauda Salad

Inspired by a salad at Eataly in New York

Serves 4

• 2 small carrots, trimmed and peeled
  
• 2 radishes, trimmed
  
• 2 small turnips, trimmed and peeled
  
• 2 small beets, trimmed and peeled
  
• 1/4 small butternut squash (the seed end, preferably), seeded and peeled
  
• 8 brussels sprouts, trimmed
  
• 1/4 cup whole flat leaf parsley leaves
  
• 4 anchovy fillets
  
• 2 small (or 1 medium) garlic cloves
  
• Salt
  
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
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See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.