The lamp leaves and garlic mustard and field garlic meet in a blender, and the vegetable goddess dressing is born. With herbal backbone based on the green goddess dressing, named in San Francisco in the 1920s, this Wild Spring Iteration is an intuitively tasty riff that relies on local seasonal greens. Native lamp leaves and invasive field garlic offer the allium punch that garlic offers in its classic version, but Garlic mustard, an infamous but flavorful super invader, fills the required mustard profile. Like their tame ancestors, the wild goddess dressing is enough to drink through a straw, and is everything in all food: spreads for toast and crackers, vegetable and egg seasonings (fish, chicken, grilled meat, all the imaginative crudite dips, and yes, a straight dressing for salads. It’s not stretch to think of it as a tonic. It’s also chilled, spoonable, and appealing to greens.
This is how to make it.
Photo by Marie Virjon.
The Green Goddess Dressing was born in the 1920s in the kitchen of a Palace Hotel in San Francisco. But the only new thing about it was that moniker. The play of the same name became a hit on the local stage (in 1930 it became a silent film in 1923, and later became “talkie.” The recipe was drawn largely in an already classic raw green sauce, like Salsa Verde (a feature of Anchovies and Capers), a cold French sauce scented by Persilade, tarragon or Sharville anise, and a spring-centric Grune Saone Saw, with a blend of buttermilk and new spring herbs.
In the wild goddess dressing, we were able to maintain the flavor of anise (French tarragon, Cherville, or soft spring leaves of Anise’s hyssop, Agasta Chesenikrum), anchovies, capers, and chose to hold the buttermilk and mayonnas combination.
Most Americans don’t eat enough fiber. Instead of relying on supplements, look at the leaves. The Wild Goddess Dressing is leaf-based and balances all fiber with a strong flavor (and vitamins such as A, C, K). Lamp leaves and field garlic is an allium packed with phytochemicals and flavonoids. It is for heart health, blood sugar levels, and anti-inflammatory. Buttermilk offers probiotics and extra virgin olive oil, antioxidant polyphenols.
