Side

"Compound butters are a terrific blank canvas," O'Connell says. "You can mix in all sorts of flavors—anchovies, capers, any herb or spice."

A palate cleanser packed with sweet, sour, and salty flavors; taste and tweak the seasonings as you go.

The colorcoded salad is one of Babylonstoren's signature dishes and always features a mix of fruits and vegetables on the same plate. Engelbrecht says produce that looks good together tastes great together, too, and she's developed specific vinaigrettes to complement the red, yellow, and green options.

Who says gremolata has to have parsley and lemon? No one who's tried this crunchy Thai influenced riff.

The dates act as both a sweetener and an emulsifier in this citrusy, mustardy vinaigrette.

Whole, unpeeled, and roasted to surreal tenderness, shallots are shedding their "always the bridesmaid" status once and for all.

Sprouting wild rice is a simple and delicious way to enjoy this amazing food completely raw. The process of sprouting wild rice is called "blooming" because the seeds actually unfold, very much like little petals, revealing the pale, tender insides. It's a really fun thing to watch, however slowly, and it's groovy to eat something you've seen transform over a few days. This salad combines fresh springtime tastes and textures, all sauced up with a delicious dressing featuring bright lemon and spicy mustard. The herbs add the final layer of flavor, making this a salad that truly tastes alive! Because the rice is sprouted, it is very sweet, requiring salt in the salad—make sure to season it well to suit your own taste.

In this dish, the fleshy artichokes get browned and crispy tops and look like strange, beautiful roses. The acidity in the white wine cuts through the rich, dense veg and, along with the salty pops from the capers, highlights the artichokes' unique herbaceousness.

I love getting some color into my salads. In this recipe it's by adding some pink grapefruit and radishes. Combining fresh flavors with a good source of protein scores this salad top marks for energy and vitality.

Because beets are sweet and earthy, they need a good helping of acidity and salt to brighten them up. Immediately after cooking, dress beets in vinaigrette and salt to let them marinate.

Naturally sweet carrots are perfectly balanced by a nutty, fragrant brown butter. If you can't find carrots with tops, substitute 2 Tbsp. coarsely chopped fresh parsley.

Toasted walnuts add a rich nuttiness to earthy greens. If you are following our $68 Dinner Story, use the reserved beet and Swiss chard greens and remaining chard stems from the Roasted Beet Salad with Flash-Pickled Radishes and Chard .

This salad is the answer to people who think they don't like leafy greens. Good kale has a deep, almost meaty flavor. Searing it and mixing it with brown-butter-drenched pine nuts, sweet raisins, and salty Parmesan cheese is a no-fail treatment. Most other hearty greens like beet greens, dandelion greens, or radish tops would also be good in this dish.

I admit that I'm hard on sugar snap peas. I get disappointed when they suck, of course, but I also get grumpy when they're anything less than perfect—unblemished, super sweet, and not a bit starchy. That's the curse of keeping high standards, I suppose: you're so rarely satisfied. When at last I do find perfect snap peas, I make this salad. I leave them raw—only the finest snap peas can be this delightful without a dunk in boiling water—and accentuate their flavor with little more than a lemony dressing and mint. If you'd like, you could add some creamy goat cheese in blobs or good old burrata alongside.

You can steam and crush the potatoes in the morning if you'd like. The finished dish is great at room temp.

When dressing hardy raw greens, it's good to be aggressive. Fortunately, we've got spicy ginger and seedy flavor bombs on hand.