Seasonal Herb Salad

This salad is a visceral experience, like you ran through the garden with a weed whacker. Made up of pieces of fresh herbs that are just shy of being too big to eat, it’s a wild and reckless bowl of green with a sexy crunch. At Dad’s, it stands up to the wrath of a greasy diner burger and a yolk-exploding mushroom sandwich. The ingredients list is anarchic; you can decide for yourself what your handfuls are, changing up the herbs and sprouts as others come into season. You can use a salad spinner to wash it all, but I like to get my hands in it, mix it up well, and let it drip dry. Then you’ll dress it with Hippie Vinaigrette (page 53), and your folks will chomp on it like they’re herbivores.

Time: 30 minutes | Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip Scott Clark

• 2 bunches fresh parsley

• 2 bunches fresh mint

• 2 medium fennel bulbs, stalks removed and tender fronds reserved

• 1 bunch mixed radishes with their greens

• 2 big handfuls pea shoots

• 2 big handfuls sunflower sprouts

• 1 bunch fresh chives, ends trimmed and cut into 2 in [5 cm] pieces

• 1/4 cup [60 ml] Hippie Vinaigrette (below), plus more as needed

• 1 handful edible flowers, such as oxalis, mustard blossoms, or arugula blossoms

Instructions:

Set a colander inside a bowl and use kitchen shears to prune the parsley and mint into it, making big pieces and discarding any tough stems.

Trim the root end of the fennel, halve the bulbs, and remove the cores. Slice the remaining fennel into 1/4 in [6 mm] thick half-moons.

Trim the radish greens to 1 in [2.5 cm] above the top and, using the green ends as a handle, mandoline the radishes into 1/6 in [3 mm] thick slices.

Add the fennel and fronds, radishes, pea shoots, sunflower sprouts, and chives to the colander.

Fill the bowl with cold water and mix the salad with your hands. Drain and wipe the bowl and rest the colander inside. Mix the salad with your hands again, shaking the colander. When the last bit of water has leaked into the bowl, wipe it dry again and put the salad in it. Dress the salad, starting with 1/4 cup [60 ml] of vinaigrette and adding more as needed. Garnish the salad with edible flowers and serve it immediately. 

hippie vinaigrette

Here’s your California dressing: a patchouli-wearing, hippie-dippie, broken vinaigrette whose sleeper ingredient is funky, deeply savory Bragg Liquid Aminos. You’ll dress the Seasonal Herb Salad with it, and anything left over is so good, it’s practically drinkable. Play with it.
Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 1 ¼ cups [300ml]

Ingredients:

• ½ cup [120 ml] California extra-virgin olive oil

• ¼ cup [60 ml] fresh lemon juice, preferably Meyer

• ¼ cup [60 ml] Bragg Liquid Aminos

• 3 Tbsp Seasoned Vinegar (below)

• 2 Tbsp honey

• Pinch of kosher salt

• 8 to 10 cranks black pepper

Instructions:

Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl or shake them in a jar. The vinaigrette keeps, in the fridge in an airtight container, for up to 1 month.

seasoned vinegar

Here’s a simple one: Jam a bunch of stuff into a jar, let it hang out, and then strain it. Use it for the Hippie Vinaigrette. Whip it into mayo. Marinate your tomatoes in it. It goes anywhere you want and adds a good, sweet zip. Just don’t dig in too hard when you’re peeling your lemon. You want as little pith as possible to avoid those bitter oils. Also, wash and dry your parsley well, especially if it’s coming from the farmers’ market. No one needs grit and caterpillars in their dressing.

Time: 5 minutes active; 1 week total
Yield: About 2 cups [475 ml]

Ingredients:

• 2 cups [475 ml] white balsamic vinegar

• 1 cup [50 g] fresh parsley sprigs

• 5 fresh thyme sprigs

• 4 by 2 in [10 by 5 cm] piece kombu

• 4 bay leaves

• Peel of 1 lemon, preferably Meyer

Instructions:

Put all the ingredients in an airtight container, pushing the aromatics down into the vinegar. If you’re using a jar, put plastic wrap over the mouth before screwing on the lid, so the vinegar doesn’t touch the metal and corrode it. Stow it in a cool, dark place and leave for 1 week. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean bottle, and it’s ready to go. You can store it in an airtight jar in the fridge indefinitely.

Excerpted from Coastal: 130 Recipes from a California Road Trip by Scott Clark with Betsy Andrews, © 2025. Published by Chronicle Books. Photographs © Cheyenne Ellis.

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