Hi, friends!

Long time no chat. Boy have we been super busy. We moved again, no thanks to issues with the house we rented while we build THE house. And now we are temporarily in a charming farm house way on the other side of town. We love the more spacious kitchen with its most excellent light.  But I  am looking forward to finally, one day, moving, hopefully for the very last time. Ever.

Months from now.

Anyhoo…while we’ve been busy cleaning up floods and traveling to forget it all, we came across this awesome little restaurant in Charleston called The Glass Onion. It’s adorable and we were starving and trying to be true to our new Keto way of eating (or at least mr. foodie is, lol) and it came highly recommended. Slid right in before their Saturday brunch ended and grabbed a couple of small plates of deviled eggs and this Squash Salad. We were like, “What the heck is a squash salad?” And the server, bless him, told us about it and said it was unlike anything he’d had before but that it was delicious, so of course we had to try it.

 The Glass Onion’s Squash Salad

It was a yummy crisp salad but the only greens was a small bed of butter lettuce. Piled onto the lettuce were very thinly sliced yellow squash, mint, slivered almonds and a homemade buttermilk dressing. On top of THAT was a veritable cloud of freshly grated parmesan.

Disclaimer (I realize here that buttermilk is not exactly Keto. I get mine organic from a local market but it has no nutritional info regarding sugar. In the place of buttermilk in this recipe, feel free to use a plain kefir or Greek yogurt, though I prefer Siggi’s Icelandic Yogurt to any and all). If you use yogurt, you may want to cut back on the mayo or add a little milk or something to loosen so it’ll have the consistence of dressing and not a dip.

So giving credit where credit is due, here’s a hat tip to The Glass Onion and my version of its delicious Summer Squash Salad.

Summer Squash Salad (adapted from The Glass Onion, Charleston, SC)

For the Dressing (serves a salad for 4-6 people):

3/4 cup mayo (I use Duke’s because it has no sugar)
1 cup  buttermilk (If Keto, full fat or plain Greek or Siggi’s yogurt or plain Kefir)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 shallot, minced
2 tbs. red wine or white wine vinegar
2 tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice
dash hot sauce (I used Texas Pete)
fresh ground pepper to taste
Salt to taste

In a pint mason jar, add ingredients, attach lid and shake, shake,  shake. You can also whisk all the ingredients in a bowl but since I put the dressing in a jar anyway, I just throw it in there. Add more salt or pepper or even hot sauce as necessary. Hopefully you won’t use it all and can make another salad for another day or use it as a dip. Refrigerate for 1-2 weeks.

This dressing makes a great base and you can go from there to adding parmesan or italian herbs for a great creamy Italian if you like. Or the zest of the lemon to make it more lemony.

For the salad:

2 zucchini squash
2 yellow squash
1-2 sprigs mint leaves, chopped or torn
1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds (you can also toast for extra flavor)
1/2 cup fresh parmesan for grating

Slice the squash very thinly with a mandolin or with a knife to about 1/8 inch thickness. Line a salad bowl with butter lettuce, baby lettuce or baby spinach (just a handful). Top the greens with the sliced squash. Add almonds and sprinkle the mint around the squash. About 10 minutes prior to serving, pour the desired amount of dressing onto the salad. You can toss it if you want here, but I don’t bother to. Just before serving, shave the parmesan over the salad. It’s best to cover the whole salad (with an audience) for maximum effect.

Before the cloud…

My version of Summer Squash Salad

The fresh squash and the pop of mint along with the crunch of the nuts make for a great summer salad that really is unlike anything you’ve ever had. And it has definitely become my new favorite.

Enjoy!