All-Star-All-Sprout Salad

Without a greenhouse or expensive equipment, it’s hard to imagine a reality in which you can have fresh and local greens every day. Sprouts, however, are easy to cultivate, mature very quickly, and really pack a nutritional punch. The best part is, you can use them for some great recipes!

The following is an excerpt from Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening by Peter Burke. It has been adapted for the web.

All-Star-All-Sprout Salad

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 cup (236.8 ml) chopped sunflower greens
1 cup (236.8 ml) chopped pea shoots
1 cup (236.8 ml) chopped radish greens
1 cup (236.8 ml) chopped buckwheat lettuce
1/2 cup (118.4 ml) chopped broccoli greens

Dressing

2 tablespoons (29.6 ml) sunflower oil
2 tablespoons (29.6 ml) balsamic vinegar
Herb salt to taste

Procedure

1. Mix the chopped greens in a bowl with the herb salt.
2. Add oil and vinegar and toss. I know it sounds too simple, but trust me this is one of the best; give it a try at least once. If you are not sure that you’re going to finish the salad, just mix half greens with half the dressing because the salad won’t keep that well if it has dressing on the greens.

Variation: Add 2 peeled and grated carrots to add a contrasting color and body to the salad. Any salad is enhanced with one ripe avocado, peeled and diced.

Sam’s Wilted Sunflower-Kale Salad

Yield: 4 Serving

My stepdaughter Samantha and I enjoy trading recipes. is one is a jewel. I would normally say that it does not store well, but in fact that has never been a problem—the bowl is always empty by the end of a meal.

Ingredients

2 cups (473.6 ml) chopped kale
2 cups (473.6 ml) (about 2 small trays) chopped sun flower greens
1⁄2 red onion, sliced extremely thin and chopped into 1-inch (2.5 cm) lengths
1⁄2 cup (118.4 ml) raw cashews, chopped 3⁄4 cup (177.6 ml) pineapple chunks in light syrup
3⁄4 cup (177.6 ml) manchego cheese, shaved

Dressing

Juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or diced
1⁄2 cup (118.4 ml) olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste (my suggestion is to go heavy on the pepper)

Procedure

1. Mix the dressing first and let it set while you make the salad.
2. Steam the kale until it’s tender. (It takes a while to make kale tender! Could be 10 minutes.)
3. Chop the sun flower greens longer than usual, about 1 inch (2.5 cm).
4. Mix the onions, pineapple, and sun flower greens.
5. Drain excess water from the kale and mix it into the other ingredients while it is still warm enough to wilt the sun flower greens.
6. Just before serving add the dressing, cashews, and cheese, and toss.

Variations: Use pine nuts instead of cashews. Use fresh spinach instead of kale, and warm the salad dressing to pour over the salad and wilt the greens. Use asiago cheese in place of manchego cheese.

Recommended Read

Grow Your Own Salad Indoors: No Garden? No Problem!

The Low-Tech Medicine Cabinet