Sunday, July 4, 2010

Side dish, done right!

There are always several important staples at any good 4th of July party: pasta salad, potato salad and cole slaw. However sometimes it's easy to get bogged down in a sea of mayonaise and oil and forget that side dishes don't have to be smothered in fat!
Here is a salad Kevin and I made for our 4th of July party this afternoon. We got the recipe from our JenEhr Farms CSA and all the ingredients were right in our pantry! This salad tastes like summer, light, fresh and it's good for you too!
On a side note, until we started our CSA, I never knew how good a fresh radish tasted! Many of the ones you find in the grocery store either have a wooden like texture or a bitter flavor. Good, fresh radishes actually taste both sweet and sharp at the same time. I've found myself chopping them up and putting them in salads, they're delicious!
Sawyer doesn't seem too enthused with radishes but she loves the snow peas. She enjoys them raw; I think the sweet flavor and the crunch are satisfying to both kids and adults.
Both snow peas and radishes are in season now and avalible at your local farmers market. Both items sell for about $2.00 a pound- which means you can whip together this quick salad for less than $5.00! Good for you and your wallet- that's a win/win situation right there!

Snow Pea, Radish and Scallion Salad

2 cups snow peas trimmed
2 scallions thinly sliced
4 radishes trimmed and cut into thin slices
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tsp granulated sugar
1 T vegetable oil

Put snow peas in a microwave safe bowl with 1 T water. Cover tightly and microwave for 1 minute. Drain and let cool. Cut snow peas into 1/2" pieces, discarding the ends.

In a bowl combine the snow peas, scallions and radishes. In a small bowl whisk the vinegar, sugar and oil until the sugar dissolves. Pour over the salad and serve.

Hope everyone has a wonderful fourth of July weekend!
Much love,

Mama Cucina

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