Leafy Green & Vegetable Salad with Lemon-Tahini Dressing

Recipe from Raising the Salad Bar by Catherine Walthers and Tested in Alice's Kitchen
Serves 4-6

We had our good buddies, Larry and Helen, over for dinner last night. They were brave enough to allow me to use them as testers for a couple of recipes I wanted to try for the Lost River Market & Deli. This recipe uses two ingredients I'd never before used, dried arame and tahini, so making this salad was an adventure for me. The dressing for this salad was particularly good and would go very well with other lettuce/vegetable salads you make. We all agreed we loved the crunchiness of the salad. It was also very pretty with all of the colors. I found dried arame seaweed in the aisle that had Asian ingredients. It was a bit over $5 for the package, which seemed at the time expensive, however, it turned out that I only needed a 1/4 cup of it for the salad and there's still plenty left in the package for many more recipes. I figure that the cost of this ingredient in this one dish that easily made 6 generous servings, was about a dollar, not bad for an ingredient which packs such a nutritional whollop. We also thought that arame might taste fishy, but the flavor was so mild that you could probably add this nutritous ingredient in the salad and your family may not even notice its presence, a plus if you have picky eaters at your house! To prepare it, just pour boiling water over it and then it expands quite a bit. The sesame seeds and sunflower seeds can be found in the bulk spice aisle. The store also carries a handy little seed toaster, for those of you who like kitchen gadgets, but you could certainly toast the seeds in a dry skillet.

Arame is a good introduction to seaweed because of its mild taste. It blends well with other flavors and is a rich source of iron. Arame can be steamed, sauteed, added to soup, or eaten in salads. Arame and all other seaweed, is a rich source of calcium, zinc and iodine. It is also a good source of Lignans which help fight cancer. Because it comes from the sea, seaweed contains sodium. It should be avoided by anyone on a sodium-restricted diet.

Tahini [tah-HEE-nee] Used in Middle Eastern cooking, tahini is a thick paste made of ground sesame seed. It's used to flavor various dishes such as hummus and baba ghanoush. Refrigerate after opening.

Salad:
6-8 cups red leaf lettuce or other greens, washed and dried
1 cup finely shredded red cabbage
1/4 cup red onion, sliced razor thin
1 cucumber, peeled, quartered & sliced
1/4 cup dried arame seaweed
1 large carrot, shredded or julienned
Toasted sunflower or sesame seeds, for garnish

Dressing:
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon tahini
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/4 extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon minced fresh parsley
Salt & Pepper, to taste

• In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, cabbage, red onion and cucumber.
• Place the arame in a small heat proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside until water is cool; drain
• Whisk together dressing ingredients (or put them in a jar and shake vigorously until combined.) Set aside. (Can be made ahead)
• Just before serving, dress the salad with the desired amount of dressing. Top with shredded carrots and arame. Drizzle a little more dressing over all and sprinkle with sunflower seeds or sesame seeds.