This week I wanted to explore foods for St. Patrick's Day but then my husband reminded me that it is kind of a Christian day of celebration and there is even a theory that the "snakes" that were banished were actually pagans/Druids, since snakes have not been in Ireland since the ice age. He also reminded me that St. Patrick's Day is a way to subvert the pagan holiday Ostara, the celebration of spring.
Well, being a proud pagan with distant Irish roots and pointy ears (I think I come from fairy folk) I will focus on celebrating the coming spring instead! I begin with Ina Garten/Barefoot Contessa's Bibb Salad with Basil Green Goddess Dressing. Calling on the Green Goddess herself!
I only made half the recipe and it still made a ton of salad dressing! In a blender you put mayo, scallions, basil, lemon juice, garlic, anchovy paste, salt and pepper. Anchovy paste is very salty so I omitted the salt at this point and seasoned at the end.
Blend, blend, blend and then add sour cream. I used low fat sour cream and mayonnaise for this recipe, I really do not taste a difference so I do not need the extra calories and fat here.
According to The Encyclopedia of Magickal Ingredients basil is all about sensual pleasures and this salad was luscious! For the first time I bought Boston lettuce which was lovely and they even had some very beautiful tomatoes at the store for my salad. It was a stunning salad, the scent of basil was lovely and the dressing tasted even better the next day as the flavours developed.
The second time I had this salad I also added cucumbers with the tomatoes and sprinkled them with a little salt and pepper before adding the dressing which just boosts the flavour all the more. Green Goddess indeed! This salad tasted like an early spring.
It is -1C as I type this but the sun is shining and there are rumours that warmer weather is on the way. This is the first March since I have moved here that I am not blanketed under snow for the coming of spring.
I am in the mood to celebrate, bring on the colour green.
6 comments:
Blessings of the Green Goddess to you! And to your husband, who has picked up all that pagan lore by being married to you!
this looks wonderful :)
i too have Irish blood and so am always so torn with the approach of 'paddys' day ;)
I have pointy ears too...one of my closest friends calls me a relative of the keebler elves because of my love for baking chocolate chip cookies.
mmm - I can almost smell the basil!! Looks lovely!
I'm playing harp over at a French Restaurant for St Pat's - I'm always torn, too!! (see my ladyharp blog for the scoop :)
I've been reading the 'Sister Fidelma' mysteries - she's a wonderful, strong Irish mystic (happens to be Catholic, but in a day that Irish catholics were QUITE different than the Romans) & about the time of Patrick - 650 AD - this was a time, according to the historian author Peter Tremayne, that Irish Gael women enjoyed freedoms & rights unrivaled by any in Europe then - or since! http://www.sisterfidelma.com/
I tend to wear DARK green (almost black) for this gig ;)
Be well & 'my seven blessings on you!'
Mo sheacht mbeannacht ort!
this looks really good....so nice and green....LOL!!!
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