Weeknight Cooking

Chopped Kitchen Sink Salad with Yogurt Dressing & Bottarga

by:
June  1, 2016
4.7
3 Ratings
Chopped Kitchen Sink Salad with Yogurt Dressing & Bottarga
Photo by James Ransom
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

This isn’t a shy salad: It should be a combination of many elements—the seasonal vegetables, a powerful dressing, and a crunchy textural accent. For me it’s the perfect way to repurpose leftovers into something new and delicious, and a great way to avoid wasted food.

You can make this a meal by adding in some leftover protein, like a little poached or grilled chicken or leftover cooked fish. It’s a salad that should never the same because it's not so much about shopping for the perfect ingredients as it is working with what you have.

The bottarga adds a briny flavor that I love, but you can easily swap that out that with fried croutons or toasted pine nuts, sesame seeds, or sunflower seeds, which will provide a crunchy texture. —Sara Jenkins

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/4 cup mint leaves
  • 3/4 cup thick Greek yogurt or labne
  • Salt
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons estate-bottled extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 pound green beans, trimmed if you want
  • 2 small Persian cucumbers
  • 1 medium fennel bulb
  • 2 scallions, white and light green parts, sliced on the bias
  • 4 tablespoons freshly grated bottarga (I only use grey mullet bottarga as I have stopped eating bluefin tuna out of concern for the long term survival of the fish, so that includes bottarga made from tuna)
Directions
  1. Prepare the dressing by finely mincing the garlic and mint leaves and stirring into the Greek yogurt. Add a pinch of salt and stir in the vinegar and olive oil. You should have a slightly runny dressing capable of easily dressing the salad. If it's not quite thin enough, add a teaspoon or so of water but check and adjust the salt if you do that.
  2. Blanch the green beans in abundantly salted boiling water just until they turn bright green. Drain and spread in a single layer on a plate or tray to cool. Cut the fennel in half and remove the core, then slice into 1/2-inch pieces. Peel and cut the cucumber into 1/2-inch half-moons. Mix all the vegetables together with the scallions and toss with the dressing. Season with a pinch of salt (go easy because the bottarga is on the salty side) and black pepper, and then grate the bottarga over the salad on a microplane. Serve and eat.
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    Bar49
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    Sara Jenkins
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    Katherine
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14 Reviews

Katherine
Katherine June 27, 2016
Thank you Sara. Think my hubby would think I am strange if asked for it for my b'day?
 
Katherine
Katherine June 27, 2016
I have been reaching this bottarga thing, and currently being on a budget, am somewhat horrified at the prices. One article I read said not to by less expensive product. Agree?
 
Sara J.
Sara J. June 27, 2016
absolutely! Bottarga is expensive but a little bit goes a long way. You can also leave it out and use one of the substitutions I suggest
 
JoAnne L.
JoAnne L. June 6, 2016
The fried almonds mentioned in the opening paragraph sound interesting. How did you fry them, in olive oil?
 
Bar49
Bar49 June 5, 2016
What would you sub in for the Bottarga? Where is Bottarga purchased?
 
Sara J.
Sara J. June 6, 2016
you can buy very fine bottarga online at Gustiamo.com, if I didnt have bottarga I would use something crunchy to add texture, nuts or tiny fried croutons or fried onions
 
sarah P.
sarah P. June 5, 2016
What is Bottarga. I'll go and look it up but would be nice to have an explanation in the description.
 
Sara J.
Sara J. June 5, 2016
it 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
 
Sara J.
Sara J. June 5, 2016
its the cured (salted and air dried) egg sack of the grey mullet. Its a fairly common ingredient in Sicilan cooking where it is used as a condiment, to grate over pasta or in a salad w/ fennel and orange. It is somewhat pungent and rather devisive, some people love it and some people hate it
 
tamater S.
tamater S. June 9, 2016
It's not likely I'll be ordering bottarga online... I wonder if bonita flakes or anchovy paste might work?
 
Italianshortie
Italianshortie June 5, 2016
please add amounts for oil and vinegar
 
Cara
Cara June 5, 2016
no listing of vinegar (amount/type) and oil... please correct
 
Amybs
Amybs June 4, 2016
How much vinegar & oil? Do you recommend one vinegar over another, Apple cider, white, balsamic?
 
Sara J.
Sara J. June 5, 2016
its 2 tablespoons of vinegar and 3 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. I always use italian red or white wine vinegar but you could substitute any kind of wine vinegar or cider vinegar would be lovely I think. This salad is all about making do with what you have on hand so don't get too caught up in specific ingredients and its also about what you like! I encourage experimentation!