Salad Days

One of the challenges is always to cook with the lovely fresh produce that you grow. I get so busy it is hard to come up with good recipes, especially when you are tired after gardening. You want to use it while it is fresh.

Right now the only thing that is really ready to eat is lettuce & kale. My spinach didn't do anything for some reason which is a shame but you move on. Kale as I have said before I am still trying to like. I made a sauteed kale the other night with garlic and balsamic vinegar and yup, still don't care for it. I think the best thing for me to do is to continue to make kale chips and then blanch and freeze the rest if I can't use it right away. I don't mind it in spaghetti sauce because, yes I don't notice it!

Lettuce is a funny one. When it is at it's best there are no garden cucumbers or tomatoes to go with it. I had a wonderful salad at Whole Foods once that I have been recreating ever since and I love, love it! You have to be a fan of blue cheese though. I guess too it is an acquired taste because if you told me 20 years ago that I would love blue cheese this much I would have thought you were nuts. I especially love it in salads and I usually sneak it in caesar salad as well.

Here is the recipe:

Butter and assorted greens
Handful of dried cranberries
Candied Pecans (recipe to follow)
Blue Cheese

Basically the amounts are up to you depending on how much you love each of the ingredients. First I crumble the blue cheese in a salad bowl and crush it up. Then I add a handful of dried cranberries and a handful of candied pecans. Add your washed lettuce and toss with a basic salad dressing.

Again, I'm not much for amounts but I mix up a batch of the dressing and use it for a few days.

Dressing:
Crushed fresh garlic
A few dashes of worchestershire sauce
A good glob of dijon mustard
Freshly ground pepper
Balsamic vinegar and then twice the amount of olive oil and whisk or shake in a bottle.

Candied Pecans:
melt three tbsp olive oil with
three tbsp balsamic vinegar &
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of pecans

When melted add the pecans and stir to coat watching carefully and turning every few minutes.
After about 7 minutes pour onto a piece of foil to cool.

One of the best things I have eaten lately was a butternut squash ravioli at Cactus Club. OMG it was lovely. I am growing butternut squash this year (at least I hope it grows) and I would love to try to make my own ravioli. I still remember how good it was. It was complimented by cooked sage leaves. YUM. The prawn on top didn't hurt either!

Oh to dream!