Sweet Summer Turnip and Miso-Apple Dressing

Outside a smoked meat shop in Point St-Charles last week, two men sitting on benches across from each other in the late afternoon sun. As I walk between them, generally avoiding eye contact and anything resembling an encouraging smile, they comment, as only older Quebecois men can, on my current state of non-smiling and the water I was drinking. They, too, were drinking. My responses stayed inside my head:

Old Man 1: “C’est bon pour la santé!” (The water – good for your health, he meant. Me: Yup. It sure is. Thanks, Quebecois man, for your astute comment)

OM1: “Smiling is good for you too.” (Me: They were going to have to ask more directly if they wanted a smile out of me. Make ’em work for it.)

Old Man 2: “Yes, water, good for the health (Takes a drink from his bottle), mais moi je le préfère avec un peu de cognac là-dedans.” (Me: Don’t laugh! So he likes a little cognac in his water…I couldn’t help but smile, though. Guess they got a smile out of me after all, though they didn’t see it. I may have even shaken my head at OM2, but only after moving past. I guess when you get to that age and it’s late afternoon a little cognac in your water makes the sun set a little easier.

Water’s good for your health, is the point, obviously. And that’s one reason I eat a lot of salad – tons of water in those juicy veggies. The other being that my Lufa Farms Fresh Basket comes every week and the easiest way to eat it all and taste how fresh it really is, is to eat a lot of salad, and steam things gently. That means a lot of water and a lot of fibre go into me with every Boston lettuce head and eggplant. This week’s basket even had summer squash which is mostly water and fibre and a whole slew of Vitamins and minerals. But some things call for other cooking methods, or combinations with other ingredients, because there are only so many salads a girl can eat before she wastes away, and only so much olive oil she can ingest before craving a béchamel or béarnaise sauce…or, you know, meat, bread, and cookies.

So, with that in mind, but also with the idea of reducing the fat in a creamy vinaigrette for yet another (delicious) salad, I came up with a new thick dressing for fresh veggies or salad – kind of Asian Caesar salad-ish. It’s very salty, but that’s how I like it.

Sweet Summer Turnip and Miso-Apple Dressing

1 small white sweet summer turnip, roughly chopped (these are kind of like radishes and kind of like turnips, but come in small bulbs and can be eaten raw. They’re not bitter like radishes (hence the name), but they’re certainly not really “sweet” either. No need to peel them. Just rinse well.

1 tbsp sweet white miso (or other miso)

1 1/2 tbsp apple cider vineger (or white balsamic, or rice vinegar, or plain old distilled vinegar)

8 basil leaves, torn

1 tbsp chopped chives (or green onions)

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp honey or sugar, optional (mild honey is best, such as clover)

Directions: Combine in blender and blend until smooth. If you want to be fussy you can combine everything except the oil and then add the oil in a thin stream to help emulsify it, but if you eat the dressing right away it won’t really matter. Adjust the seasoning as needed:

Too acidic: add more turnip or a mix of turnip and olive oil

Too salty: add more turnip, vinegar and/or olive oil

Too bland: add more chives

Still too bland: add more miso and/or vinegar

This is perfect with raw tomatoes, as a dip for yet more sweet summer turnips cut in slices, with cheese (so good with the salty miso), or as a sandwich spread instead of mayo or dairy-heavy options.