Hazelnut and baby dandelion salad with garlic vinaigrette

Recipe inspired by the many versions of the dandelion salad found throughout the Eastern Townships. To know the origins of this ancestral recipe, read our blog article Garlic in the Eastern Towships. Recipe and picture credits: Storica

Ingredients

Salad  

• 3 cups baby dandelion leaves
• 1 cup sunflower sprouts
• 4 strips grilled bacon (optional for a vegetarian salad)
  
• ¼ cup roughly chopped hazelnuts 

Vinaigrette

• 1 crushed garlic clove or 1 tbsp fermented garlic scapes 
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil  
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 
• ½ tsp sumac (optional but delicious)
• ¼ tsp salt

Preparation

• You can pick dandelion leaves* in the spring by the edges of fields or on untreated lawns.
• Wash the dandelion leaves throughly and dry them completely. Toss them in a bowl with the sunflower sprouts.
• Make the vinaigrette and drizzle it over the greens.
• Decorate with pieces of bacon and chopped hazenuts.

• *For raw salads, pick the youngest and most tender leaves (2-3 inches long, the size of an arugula leaf). The longer, tougher leaves are better braised, just like spinach.