Magical microgreens

Marianne Sundquist

High Desert Table

We are teetering on the edge of summer bounty, so last week I headed to the Santa Fe Farmers Market with the kids to see what we could find. We saw baskets overflowing with all kinds of salad greens, pints of snap peas, bunches of red radishes and my favorite spring treat, white hakurei turnips (also called salad turnips). And just as we thought we had exhausted our search, we noticed a small table with microgreens and met the farmer behind Matt's Microgreens, Matt Sherman. He showed us his sunflower, pea, radish and broccoli shoots, and it occurred to me this is perhaps the best time to tinker on a recipe with microgreens, when flowers and vegetables are naturally in the midst of their seedling (tiny sprout) stage. I carried home a variety pack with a little of each of the four microgreens he had brought with him.

While local farms are filled with growing plants, here is the first taste, ready to nourish us with their nutrient dense and vibrant kick of flavor. I had been working on another recipe for this week, but it will have to wait. When I returned home, I realized I had a few pink grapefruits and a good-sized hunk of Parmesan cheese. This recipe practically made itself in around 15 minutes before we sat down for dinner. One might think something that tastes so delicious and looks so beautiful would be laborious, or at the very least, time-consuming to make. Not this salad. Grapefruit is the fruit I chose because I love it and I had it, but many other fruits would be incredible choices as we move through the growing season. Apricots, peaches, nectarines, even pitted cherries partially smashed before being spread across the bottom of a plate, would work just as well, if not better, depending on what fruits you love the most. When chile season is in full swing, I guarantee I will be adding thin slices of fire-roasted poblanos along with the fruit for an added depth and grounding of flavor.

I guess it's a stretch to call this a carpaccio, but it seems right enough to me. Usually carpaccio refers to meat or fish that is pounded thin and served raw. But with the grapefruit thinly sliced and spread across the bottom of a plate, it has a visual similarity that cannot be ignored. And while this recipe could easily serve four as a side, it could also serve two as an entire meal, especially when paired with meat or fish. On the night we devoured this salad for dinner, we had also grilled a single ribeye steak to share, and the pairing was better than we could have ever imagined.

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Marianne Sundquist is a chef, writer and co-founder of Stokli, an online shop that celebrates nourishing goods from the high desert (stokli.com). Find her on Instagram @marianne__sundquist and email her at [email protected].

Marianne Sundquist

High Desert Table

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