Persian Style Herb & Cheese Platter with Pea Shoot Salad
- Prep Time: 25
- Cook Time: 2
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 4
Description
Herbs and alliums (onions and garlic) are at their most tender in spring, which is when Persian cooks especially like to assemble sprightly platters of sabzi–aromatic herbs, spring onions, and crisp radishes–with slabs of salty, creamy feta cheese, flat bread, and sweet halvah for guests to combine into bite-sized sandwiches of contrasting flavors.
Make this pretty spring salad, in shades of green, when pea shoots, and lettuces are at their peak. Tender pea shoots, a favorite in Asian stir-fries, are the tips of pea plants that haven’t developed pods or flowers, so all the sweetness goes into the leaves. Some farmers bring them trimmed to the tenderest top two or three inches. Others bring longer stalks, in which case you’ll need to snap off the tender part where it breaks easily.
Ingredients
- Mint, Tarragon, Chives, and/or Cilantro – 1/2 bunch each
- Feta Cheese – 1/2 pound
- Halvah (optional) – 1/4 pound
- Radishes – 1/2 bunch, sliced
- Spring Onions – 1/2 bunch, white part only, halved or quartered lengthwise
- Flat Bread, Focaccia, Lahvosh, or Pita –
- For the Fava Bean and Pea Shoot Salad
- Pea Shoots – 1 bunch
- Butter Lettuce – 1 large head, leaves torn
- Dill – 1/4 to 1/3 cup of sprigs
- Chives – 1/4 cup, snipped
- Extra-Virgin Olive Oil – 1 tablespoon
- Lemon Juice – 1 tablespoon
- Sea Salt –
- Black Pepper –
- Fava Beans – Shelled & peeled (opt)
Instructions
- Select any variety of herbs. Rinse and dry herbs up to 6 hours ahead, wrap in paper towels, and refrigerate. At serving, snip the herbs into large sprigs or individual leaves, discarding tough stems. Cut the cheese and halvah into 1/4-inch-thick slices and the bread into small serving-sized pieces. (If using focaccia, halve horizontally first, then cut into pieces.) Arrange the herbs, radishes, onions, cheese, halvah, and bread on a platter. To eat, place a slice of cheese, several herb sprigs, a radish slice or two, some onion, and halvah onto a piece of bread.
- Farmer’s Tip: Dennis Peitso of Maggie’s Farm says the secret to storing herbs and salad greens is a not-too-cold fridge–no colder than 40 degrees. Keep delicate leafy herbs and greens such as chervil, winter hothouse basil, chives, and salad mixes unwashed in plastic bags with air trapped inside and refrigerate until needed. Shrubby herbs such as rosemary, thyme, or sage can be stored in a glass without water on the counter away from light. As the herbs dry, they are easier to pluck and crush right into your dish. Keep summer basil at room temperature with the stems in water.
- For the salad, trim the tender tops and leaves of the pea shoots (you should have 2 to 3 cups) and reserve the sturdier parts for soup or stock. Trim away any long tendrils that might be hard to chew (nibble one to find where the tender part begins). Place the pea shoots, lettuce, dill, and chives in a salad bowl. Fava beans too, if using them. Drizzle with the oil and lemon juice to taste and season with salt and pepper. Toss and serve.
- Cook’s Tip: Sauté pea shoots (and fava beans), seasoned with salt and white pepper, in a little butter for about a minute until wilted and bright, shiny emerald green. Add a squeeze of Meyer lemon juice and serve.