Spring Gem Salad with Soft Herbs and Labneh Toasts
May 5, 2026
I started adding herb leaves to salads in the eighties, when I made a butter lettuce salad with fresh herbs and a simple lemon vinaigrette. I used that salad as an inspiration for this, but added spring vegetables, including raw asparagus, sugar snap peas, and English peas, to make it more substantial than a side salad. It’s the first tell on the Osteria menu that spring has sprung in Los Angeles. I welcome any excuse to eat with my hands, especially when I’m eating salad—and this one, made with sturdy leaves of Little Gem lettuce, which is similar to romaine, invites that.
The shape of the leaves catches the herbs and other vegetables like little lettuce tacos, and I serve the salad with toast slathered in Labneh,, so I can hold the toast in one hand and the lettuce in the other. The only thing that might improve the situation would be a third hand for a glass of wine.
If you can’t find fresh chervil, substitute additional tarragon.
In this Recipe
Ingredients
FOR THE TOAST
Bâtard or fat baguette (or country bread)6–8 slices (½-inch thick) or 4 slices (halved/quartered)
Extra-virgin olive oilFor brushing
FOR THE SALAD
Kosher salt ¾ teaspoon (plus more for blanching water)
Shelled English peas ⅓ cup (from ~½ lb in pods)
Asparagus 3 ounces (stems removed)
Sugar snap peas 3 ounces
Radishes (preferably French breakfast) 6
Lemon Vinaigrette 1 recipe (recipe follows)
Little Gem lettuce (or romaine hearts) 3 heads
Fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon
Fresh chervil leaves (finely chopped) 2 tablespoons (from ~¼ cup packed), plus more for garnish
Fresh dill leaves (finely chopped) 2 tablespoons (from ~¼ cup packed), plus more for garnish
Fresh tarragon leaves (finely chopped) 2 tablespoons (from ~¼ cup packed), plus more for garnish
Fresh Italian parsley leaves (finely chopped) 2 tablespoons (from ~¼ cup packed)
Fresh chive batonettes 15–20 (1-inch pieces)
FOR FINISHING THE TOASTS
Labneh (chilled) Heaping ½–¾ cup
Extra-virgin olive oil (finishing quality) For drizzling
Sweet smoked paprika For garnish
Chervil leaves or microgreens Optional, for garnish
FOR THE LEMON VINAIGRETTE (Makes 1 cup)
Shallot (minced) ¼ cup (from about 1 medium peeled shallot)
Fresh lemon juice ¼ cup
Champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar) 1 tablespoon
Kosher salt 1 teaspoon
Freshly ground black pepper ½ teaspoon
Extra-virgin olive oil ½ cup
Steps
- FOR THE TOAST
- To make the toasts, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place the bread slices on a baking sheet, brush the tops with olive oil, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the toasts are golden brown and crispy, rotating the baking sheet from front to back halfway through the cooking time so the toasts brown evenly. Remove the toasts from the oven and set aside to come to room temperature while you make the salad.
- FOR THE SALAD
- To make the salad, fill a large saucepan with water, bring the water to a boil over high heat, and salt it to taste like the ocean, adding 1 tablespoon salt to each quart of water. Prepare an ice bath in a medium bowl and prepare a bed of paper towels.
- Put the peas in a fine-mesh strainer and plunge them into the boiling water to blanch for 2 minutes, until tender but not mushy. Lift the strainer out of the water and immediately plunge the strainer into the ice bath for about 1 minute to cool the peas. Remove the strainer from the water and turn the peas out onto the paper towels to drain.
- Starting at the tip and keeping the entire tip intact, slice the entire stalk of asparagus on an extreme bias ⅛ inch thick. Put the sliced asparagus and the tips in a medium bowl.
- Remove and discard the strings from the sugar snap peas and slice ⅛ inch thick on an extreme bias. Put the sugar snap peas in the bowl with the asparagus. Holding the radishes by the stems, thinly slice on a mandoline or with a very sharp knife and discard the stems. Add the radish slices to the bowl with the other vegetables. Drizzle the vegetables with 3 tablespoons of the lemon vinaigrette, toss gently, and set aside to marinate the vegetables while you prepare the rest of the salad.
- Remove and discard the outer, limp, dark green leaves from the lettuce. Pull the remaining leaves from the cores; discard the cores and put the leaves in a large bowl.
- Sprinkle the lettuce leaves with the lemon juice and salt, and toss to coat the lettuce. Drizzle all but 2 tablespoons of the remaining vinaigrette over the salad. Add the chopped chervil, dill, tarragon, parsley, and chives and gently massage the vinaigrette and herbs into the lettuce leaves with your hands. Add the remaining vinaigrette if necessary to coat the leaves.
- To finish the toasts, slather a heaping tablespoon of labneh on each toast, leaving the edges of the toast visible. (This is purely for aesthetic reasons, but for me, that’s as good a reason as any.) Drizzle the labneh with finishing-quality olive oil, sprinkle each toast with a pinch of paprika, and top with a few leaves of chervil, if you are using it.
- To serve, lift the largest lettuce leaves and herbs out of the bowl they were tossed in and put them on a large platter, laying them so they’re like tacos with the “bowls” facing upright and the leaves slightly overlapping one another. Scatter one-third of the marinated vegetables over the lettuce. Continue building the salad, using the medium leaves next, topping with a third of the marinated vegetables, and the smallest leaves last. Scatter the remaining marinated vegetables into each lettuce cup and sprinkle the whole herb leaves over the top. Serve with tongs and the labneh toasts on a separate platter.
- FOR THE LEMON VINAIGRETTE
- Combine the shallot, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt in a small bowl. Add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly to emulsify. Use the vinaigrette or refrigerate, covered, for up to 2 days. Bring the vinaigrette to room temperature and whisk to recombine the ingredients before using.
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