Culinary Guides

Mache, also called lamb's lettuce or corn salad, is a tender, mild green that grows in little rosettes. Its soft leaves are the perfect foil for creamy avocado and sweet-tart oranges, and a bright citrus vinaigrette pulls the whole plate together. Grow a patch of mache and this becomes a five-minute salad.

Ingredients

• 4 medium navel or Valencia oranges
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced red onion
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 medium ripe avocado, thinly sliced
• 5 ounces mache (about 6 loosely packed cups)

Directions

1. Finely grate 1 teaspoon of zest from one orange into a large bowl. Trim the peel and white pith from all the oranges, then cut them crosswise into 1/4-inch slices.
2. Squeeze two or three of the slices to yield 1 tablespoon of juice and add it to the bowl with the zest.
3. Whisk the olive oil, minced red onion, and red wine vinegar into the juice and zest. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Thinly slice the avocado. Arrange the orange and avocado slices on one side of each of six salad plates.
5. Toss the mache with the dressing in a large bowl, seasoning with a little more salt and pepper if needed.
6. Mound the dressed mache next to the oranges and avocado on each plate.
7. Finish with a little extra orange zest, or some chopped parsley or cilantro, and serve right away.

A handful of toasted almonds or walnuts adds crunch, and a brush of lemon juice keeps the avocado from browning if you slice it ahead.

Grower's tip: Mache is happiest in cold weather. Sow it in late summer and fall and it forms tidy little rosettes you can cut whole, giving you fresh, mild salad greens right through the cold months when lettuce would give up.

Grow the greens for this salad at home. A bed of mache seeds and a few onions for that sharp bite in the dressing go a long way.