Basil Green Goddess Dressing

Shamefully, in the last couple of weeks, in my busyness and general stupidity as an awful human being , I have allowed a considerable portion of my csa produce to spoil in my fridge. This is not acceptable. I can do better. So this week I am now on a mission to use everything, down to the last little leaf of lettuce and parsley stem. In surveying all of my produce, and imagining what I might concoct with such a spread, I realized that I had everything I needed for a nice salad with basil green goddess dressing. Yay! That spells lunch to me! I did use Ina’s recipe as a guide, but didn’t really measure anything. I added twice the lemon juice, I would think, along with the zest of half a lemon, ’cause I like a nice twang, and a big handful of basil leaves, scallions, parsley, six anchovy fillets along with the capers they were wrapped around (because I didn’t have any anchovy paste on hand), a big pinch of chipotle powder, to add just a little nudge of heat, and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Once upon a time I used to be afraid of anchovies. Thinking back, I am not exactly sure why. My own ignorance I suppose. But then I discovered the amazingly delicious wonders of fish sauce (which is largely made with anchovies), and lamented all of the many wasted years of great flavor. Really, when it comes down to it, they taste sort of like slightly fishy, extremely salty Parmesan cheese. So nutty and robust, and you would never know or even venture to guess that there were any fish in this dressing, or in sauces, or any of the many other anchovy applications. Seriously. If, like me, you have been afraid to take the plunge into the fishy waters, what are you waiting for? You are missing out! But I digress… I sliced a colorful assortment of tomatoes, and placed them along side half a small head of red curly leaf lettuce, which I washed and spun dry in my salad spinner. And enjoyed the salad with a fabulously excessive amount of this incredibly full flavored dressing. It is creamy and tangy, with a little heat from the fresh garlic and scallions, and the grassyness of the almost licoricey, minty basil. It hits your palate in all the right places, and is a perfect compliment for these amazing farm fresh, vine ripened tomatoes. What a perfectly delicious lunch, and a step in the right direction of utilizing the entirety of my csa. Anyone out there have any good recipe suggestions for kohlrabi or lemon cucumbers? If so, let me know, that will be my next challenge. Happy eating everyone!