featured/ José Andrés/ Mediterranean/ Salad/ summer

Lemony Greens Salad with Fava Santorini

This is a summer green salad with vibrant colors and healthful ingredients. The greens can be anything fresh you just pick up from the farmers market. In the summer, you see many varieties of kale, chard, arugula and spinach. Anyone of these goes well in the salad. The yellow backdrop is none other than Santorini fava beans from a recent trip to the Greek Island. No worry, you can easily use a bag of split peas from any local market instead of fava beans. However, there is one other twist for the lemony greens salad with fava Santorini, a recipe from the cookbook Zaytinya by José Andrés.

This may look like one ot those dishes you order from Zaytinya or other Mediterrean restaurants. But this dish can be put together easily if you know how to blanch vegetables or to cook beans according to the set of instructions on the back of the package

These are the cooking instructions for the fava Santorini:

In a saucepan add 4 cups of water, 1 cup of fava beans, salt, pepper and a whole pealed onion. After it starts boiling, remove the foam and simmer for 30-45 minutes over medium heat until the fava beans become a velvety mixture. Put fava in a bowl, add olive oil, onions and capers.
On the back of a bag of Fava Santorini from Santo Taste

What brings the greens and the fava beans together is the lemon honey dressing. (See the recipe below.) It takes the juice from three to four fresh lemon, emulsify with canola and olive oil (1 1/3 cups in total), honey, salt and pepper. Using an immersion blender, food processor or hand mixer gets the job done with ease. In addition, any leftover dressing can be stored in the fridge for later use. The citrusy flavor dances in your mouth and makes any greens sing. This is the unexpected twist and discovery I’m excited to tell you about on top of the delightful summer salad which I’ve made over and over again.

Print Recipe

Lemony Greens Salad with Fava Santorini

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 large bunches curly kale, chard or spinach
Kosher salt
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
3 springs dill (optional)
1/4 cup lemon-honey dressing (ladolemono)
1 cup fava Santorini
1 to 2 tablespoons salted roasted pistachios, roughly chopped
8 to 10 pitted Kalamata olives, halved and smoked
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
FOR THE LEMON-HONEY DRESSING ( LADOLEMONO):
1 cup canola oil
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 fresh lemon juice (from 3 to 4 lemons)
2 tablespoons Greek honey
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Freshly ground white pepper
FOR THE YELLOW SPLIT PEA SPREAD (FAVA SANTORINI):
1 cup dried yellow split peas, rinsed and picked over
1/4 cup minced yellow onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon or large pinch saffron
Pinch of cayenne or other chile powder, plus more to taste
Kosher salt
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 to 3 lemons), plus more to taste
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to taste

Instructions

Trim the stems from the kale and discard (or save for another use), and tear the leaves into pieces. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and fill a large bowl with ice water. Add the kale to the boiling water and blanch for about 2 minutes. Immediately drain in a colander and transfer kale to the ice water. Once cooled, drain the kale and squeeze out any remaining water with a clean towel.

Put the kale and onions in a mixing bowl. Tear the dill into the bowl, discarding the large stems. Add the lemon-honey dressing and toss until coated.

Use the back of a spoon to spread the fava Santorini on the bottom of serving dish. Lay the kale on top, then scatter the pistachios and olives over the greens. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and top with lemon zest and Aleppo pepper.

TO MAKE THE LEMON-HONEY DRESSING ( LADOLEMONO):

Put the oils in a mixing bowl or a tall container. Add the lemon juice, honey, salt, and pinch of pepper. Blend the mixture with an immersion blender, or with a handheld mixer on high speed, until emulsified and creamy.

Keep refrigerated in an airtight container—a dressing-specific glass bottle is ideal—for about a week. The sauce will separate as it sits: blend again to emulsify.

TO MAKE THE YELLOW SPLIT PEA SPREAD (FAVA SANTORINI):

Put the split peas in a pot with 3 cups of water. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, skimming any froth that rises to the top.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, to maintain a gentle simmer, and add the onions, garlic, saffron, cayenne, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary, until the split peas are completely cooked and soft. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid.

Pour the still-warm split peas into a food processor. Immersion blender would work too. Start processing while drizzling in the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, and cooking liquid as necessary to achieve a smooth thick puree. Season to taste with salt and additional olive oil, cayenne, and/or lemon juice.

Best serve with pickled onions and briny capers or alongside grilled octopus (optional).

Refrigerate for up to a week.