amy chaplin

celebrating the art of eating well

Spring millet salad with tangy seeded flax dressing

POSTED ON May 11, 2013

spring salad

Millet is a quirky grain: with a sunny yellow color and perfect round shape, it fluffs up perfectly when cooked, but quickly becomes dry as it cools. Raw, it smells slightly sweet, milky and almost musky.  It’s the kind of smell that makes me want to bake breakfast-y things like my mother’s milk pudding.  To provide depth and a bit more body to the pudding, she used to fold in ground raw millet before baking it. We ate the milk pudding warm for breakfast in winter. I posted the recipe and some photos here a while back and in case you’re curious, I have tried to make an almond milk version but it just isn’t the same.

Anyway, today I decided to try something different (for me) and make a salad; served slightly warm it was the perfect dish for a rainy day.

As I tossed the ingredients together I really wished I was sharing it with my mother and that the distance between us wasn’t so great.

Happy Mother’s Day, Pamela xoxo

 

For other recipes and info about ramps (wild leeks) go here and here

Oh, and thanks so much to everyone at vogue.com for featuring my Pantry stocking/cooking classes as one of the 10 best Mother’s day gifts!

Check out the link here.

lunch

salad dressing

shaving asparagus

raw shaved asparagus

topped with avocado

my mother and sister in Victoria, Australia 1977

Me in wheel barrow

Spring millet salad with tangy seeded flax dressing

If you prepare the full amount of millet you will be left with about 2 cups cooked. It can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days and stirred into pancakes, bread or baked goods. Millet gets dry once it cools, so reheat it before eating plain. Alternately, you could halve the millet and not have anything left over.

In this salad, I stopped the millet from becoming dry by tossing it with the salad dressing while still warm. Allow any leftover salad to come to room temperature…but it is best the day it’s made.

A medium leek will work in place of ramps (wild leeks). It could also be topped with a crumble of goat cheese instead of avocado, or both.

Serves 2 to 4

 

Millet

1 cup millet, washed and soaked over night in 2 cups water

2 cups filtered water

Sea salt

 

Dressing

4 tablespoons flax oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons unpasteurized apple cider vinegar

1 ½ teaspoons tamari

1 tablespoon toasted sunflower seeds, chopped

1 tablespoon toasted pumpkin seeds, chopped

1 tablespoons hemp seeds

 

For the salad

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 bunch ramps, bulbs and leaves thinly sliced and kept separate

1 cup frozen peas

1 pound asparagus, trimmed and shaved lengthways with a vegetable peeler

Sea salt

 

To serve

1 avocado, diced

Chopped chives

Radish sprouts

 

Cook the millet: drain and rinse millet and place it in a small pot, add filtered water and a pinch of salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover pot, lower heat and simmer 20 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Remove from heat and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes.

Make the dressing: whisk together all the salad ingredients and set aside. Remove half of the cooked millet (about 2 cups), place in a bowl and fluff with a fork. Pour ¾ of the dressing over cooked millet and mix well, breaking up any lumps. Set aside while you cook the vegetables.

Make the salad: warm olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add ramp bulbs and sauté for a couple of minutes or until softened, stir in ramp leaves and sauté until wilted, about a minute. Add peas and cook until heated through and bright green. Stir in shaved asparagus and sauté until softened, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat immediately, add to dressed millet and toss to combine.

To serve: spoon salad into bowls and top each portion with avocado and drizzle with remaining dressing. Garnish with chives and radish sprouts.


POSTED IN Gluten free, Grains, Salads

TAGGED UNDER: asparagus, flax oil, peas, ramps, seeds



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10 Comments:

  • Love the recipe but the pics of your mom and you in the wheelbarrow are the best!

  • Bonnie says:

    What a wonderful salad!
    Can’t wait to make it.

  • Chelsea says:

    Love this! Gorgeous photos of you, your sister and your mom. By any chance do you recall where you got that beautiful, organic shaped bowl?

  • Liz le Mare says:

    Amy, your recipes are always great. I can hardly wait to make this salad. I picked up asparagus and arugula at the farmers market today. I don’t know what ramps are so I am going to use the arugula instead. I loved the pics of you, your sis and mama.

    • Amy Chaplin says:

      Thank you! I’ve updated post to link to other recipes and info about ramps…you can always use leeks in their place!

  • Jillian says:

    Lovely Amy .. the recipe, but especially loved to look at your photos with Pamela! Love the look of pure love on her face as she looks at your both!
    Love xx
    Jillian

  • Foods4Health says:

    Amy, thanks so much for posting this recipe. That dressing looks absolutely amazing! I have just found your blog and after following a few other ones, I have to compliment the way you laid out this recipe for your readers. Simple to follow but also enough detail to allow anyone to try this. Needed a new millet recipe so great timing ;). Also love the pictures, they look amazing. The blast from the past ones were great to.

    Look forward to following along your site and learn more from your posts. All the best :).

  • This dressing looks great and a wonderful way to use all those great seeds. So healthy for us! Thanks for the inspiration. Love your blog!

  • Melanie says:

    this looks so great!!! yummie^^

    The Fashion Menue

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