Recipe: Dandelion and White Bean Salad

We are very lucky to have Chef Carol D’Espinosa as one of our Farm Boxers.  If you’ve ever come over to work on a Saturday or been to one of our celebrations, you’ve probably eaten some of Chef Carol’s fabulous cooking.  She’s also generous enough to share lots of her wonderful recipes with our farm boxers, so we’ll be including many of them on the blog in the upcoming season.

We want your recipes, too!  If you’ve found a delicious way to prepare the fresh foods that you are getting from the farm, let us know!  We’d love to share it on the website.

Here’s a story about Dandelion greens from Connie:

While walking around the farm, Chef Carol spotted some of the many dandelions around the farm and asked to pick some.

I remembered my childhood disdain for the dark leafy greens and my grandmother, my namesake, Concetta saying, ‘what-a kind of an Italian are you…, you don’-a like-a greens???!!!’

I have since made an effort to  acquire a taste for the greens (so good for the blood, you know), and asked Carol to share some of her recipes with us.

This is the time to be eating dandelion greens, the flavor gets stronger and more bitter as the days get warmer and the plants become larger; once they flower, they are considered  to have gone past their prime.

We just generally toss them into a stir fry and I know many who toss them into a  green salad.

So, if you have some in your yard, you might want to snip the leaves and give them a try.

Dandelion and White Bean Salad

by Chef Carol D’Espinosa

3 cups baby Dandelions

1 C. canned Cannellini Beans, rinsed

1/4 C. sliced red Onions

Grape Tomatoes

1/4 C. Oil Cured Olives

Salt & Pepper

Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Balsamic Vinegar or any Vinaigrette

Add dressing & toss just before serving.