- 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
16 Comments on Bagna Cauda Salad:
Oooooh!
Amanda is a co-founder of Food52.
added about 1 year agoLike that response.
Amazing. What do you serve with it at lunch? Or is just the salad alone the lunch?
Amanda is a co-founder of Food52.
added about 1 year agoYou could go in lots of directions. A piece of poached or roasted salmon. Room temperature roasted chicken. Grain salad. A hearty soup to follow.
I'm sure this is akin to heresy, but what would you sub if you didn't want to use anchovies? Would you just add some salt, or maybe fish sauce, or maybe worchestershire, or even soy?
Fish sauce sounds really good!
Amanda is a co-founder of Food52.
added about 1 year agoFish sauce is a good idea. If you do Worchestershire, you'll probably want to blend it with something else (Craig Claiborne used to love W-sauce and Tabasco together).
Glorious! I have the end of a squash sitting in the fridge - in fact I probably have all of these except the brussels sprouts. I'm heading into the kitchen now...
Amanda is a co-founder of Food52.
added about 1 year agoHope it was a success.
Beautiful! I was first introduced to Bagna Cauda as a dip for bread. It was so good, I began using it as a dip - or dressing - for most everything. Love the notion of thinly shaving all the veggies - more surface area means - more Bagna Cauda.
Cultures show us so much of themselves through their food - http://bit.ly/erLZdP
Amanda is a co-founder of Food52.
added about 1 year agoHadn't thought about the surface area when I was working on this, but that makes so much sense.
I've been so bored with my winter salads lately - this sounds like just the thing to perk things up!
Amanda is a co-founder of Food52.
added about 1 year agoDefinitely the kind of thing to make if you don't mind breathing fire for a few hours.
Just what I need! Thanks for a great (and gorgeous!) recipe!
Oh, this is especially wonderful coming on the heels of pudding week! I mistakenly thought bagna cauda was just any warm bath cooking method. Oops...will have to wait for that window to edit recipes to open again. Thanks for the info and recipe!
Amanda is a co-founder of Food52.
added about 1 year agoYes, trying to balance out the fondue and puddings!
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