My Favorite Green Juice Recipe: Sarma Melngailis

If you haven’t heard of raw vegan hotspots One Lucky Duck or Pure Food and Wine, chances are you’re a meat eater. (Or were.)

Sarma Melngailis’s fine-dining restaurant, Pure Food and Wine opened in 2004, and her take-away food hub One Lucky Duck, which followed in 2005, are New York’s pioneering outposts of raw, vegan, and organic food.

She’s since authored cookbooks, like Living Raw Food, and written the recipes for spectacular smoothies and juices, including this green shake that she sips daily.

“When the book came out we didn’t have this [shake] on the menu at our juice bars, but so many people asked for it so we added it,” says Melngailis. Now you can whip one up at home. —Jamie McKillop

Sarma Green Shake

1 grapefruit2 lemons2 limes2 cucumbers1 tablespoon vanilla extract1 big bunch of parsley or cilantro, or both, stems and all1 big handful fresh sunflower sprouts, if available1 bunch or more of kale, Swiss chard, rainbow chard, collards, spinach, watercress, or any combination of dark greens (dinosaur kale is my favorite)Stevia (liquid or powdered) or agave nectar to taste

Cut away the peel of the grapefruit and limes. Cut away the outer yellow peel of the lemons. Peel and chop the cucumber. Blend the grapefruit, lemons, limes, cucumbers, and vanilla into a liquid. Add the herbs, sprouts, and greens a bit at a time and blend as you go. Sweeten to taste with stevia (about a teaspoon of liquid or a few packets of powder) or agave nectar (a few tablespoons).

Pour and enjoy!

For more information, visit www.oneluckyduck.com