Edible Tulip

Spring Salad Series Spotlight: Asparagus

It's always a pleasure to see the hind end of winter spiraling out into the twilight until next time. Then begins the slow creep of spring. Bird chatter, muddy boots, baby shoots. Usually that is. This year spring was like a gigantic explosion of colour and heat. One day I was trudging up Roncesvalles in a wool toque batting my eyelids against the freezing rain and a few days later I was lost in a forest of forsythia.

There are 3 baby goslings by the lake. The curled buds have already spread their wings and turned into leaves. The magnolias are losing their petals like so many dropping dead flies. It's a fast and furious time. Which makes me happy but kinda antsy. I always feel like an arrow's going to fly over my left shoulder. It's a month of surprises.

I think of myself as two parts calm, one part storm. But at the tail end of winter I met someone who made me feel all storm. I'm still recovering. Spring is helping fend back the white caps. Warm winds are good.

I had my wisdom teeth out 10 days ago so it's been quiet around these parts. There has not, as you might imagine, been a whole lot of salad eating going on. I have been slinking back stealthily to the raw greens but it is a slow and cautious process. The good news is I discovered I love soup. Breakfasts were all smoothies filled with almond milk and frozen berries and bananas and cubes of canteloup. Lunches were constant experiments. Curried broccoli and sweet potato. Coconut butternut squash. Then when the warm weather hit I made every incarnation of gazpacho you never heard of.

Ontario asparagus has hit the green grocers in all its plucky goodness. Tinged with streaks of purple, the fat stalks are hardy and meaty. Just snap off the dead ends and steam until just tender. I eat a whole pound drizzled in olive oil and salt. Or tossed in a lemony-garlic dressing. Or buried under a few poached eggs. Some salad suggestions. Go forth, go wild, get your spears.

Snow peas and Asparagus with Basil-Lime Vinaigrette and Slivered Almonds found here

Asparagus and beet greens and Asparagus and edamame (sugar snap peas, fresh peas, fresh fava beans) are natural partners. They appear at the same time seasonally and contain that same early earthy robust slinging mud at your taste buds sort of excellence.

Here you'll find 4 asparagus recipes and a bunch of salad dressings that meld well with the spring flavours.

101 Salads for Everyday Eating: #55 Quinoa with Pistachios and Dried Cherries and Lots of Parsley

Quinoa is a bit of a conundrum. It's a grain but a non typical cereal grain. It's packed with protein and calcium making it ideal for vegans and vegetarians. It's also hands down the easiest thing to prepare: rinse 1 cup of quinoa under cold water. Prepare 2 cups of cold water in a pot and bring to a boil. Add the quinoa. Turn down the heat to low and let simmer for 15 minutes. Turn out into a bowl and fork through to allow the steam to evaporate. Done. It's not tricky and fickle like rice or couscous.

Here's a great lunch salad. Or  side dish. Even better as a main with chickpeas added to the mix. It's also excellent the next day so tuck it away as a great prepare ahead recipe. I used pistachios and dried cherries but any combination of dried fruit and nuts that you enjoy would likely be good too -- hazelnuts and dried apricots, dried plums and walnuts, slivered almonds and dried cranberries. If you can't find radicchio you could try thinly sliced red cabbage or sliced endive. Explore. Enjoy.

Quinoa with Pistachios and Dried Cherries

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

1/2 head radicchio, sliced thinly

Tbsp of chopped dried cherries

Tbsp of pistachios, halved

Handful of fresh parsley chopped

Coarse sea salt to taste

A white balsmic vinegar and olive oil dressing: I go 1 to 1 but you may prefer 1 to 2

101 Salads for Everyday Eating: #54 Southwestern Black Bean and Corn Salad with Avocado in a Cumin Vinaigrette

I've been eating various permutations of this salad all weekend. And I'm telling you, it's fantastic. Slightly smoky, a bit sweet, followed by a collective bite of flavours that make me very happy.

The basics: I cooked the black turtle beans from dry (no presoak, took about an hour to reach al dente) and I carved the kernals directly off the cobs (steamed in a bit of water in a deep fry pan, takes about  5 minutes) because I think the flavours of both add enough of an imprint to bother with the prep, however frozen corn and canned beans are easy substitutes.

The additions: shaved or thinly sliced cabbage is an under-rated vegetable. It's great added to Chinese fish hot pot suppers with ample ginger and borderline excessive garlic and I love it slightly caramelized in a stir fry. Here it's just the acerbic jerk of the dish. The one who talks smack. He's a bit stringy and biting but the taste of him hangs around long after the meal is done.

Avocado, naturally.

Lots of chopped fresh dill but basil would be excellent here too.

Then I ventured even further into the land of outspoken vegetables and decided to chop up some dandelion (bought, not foraged) to mellow out the sweetness of the beans and the corn. Dandelion is very tart, not sorrel tart, more along the hints of grass, like that astringent smell in the air right after someone mows their lawn. I love it's uniqueness (one big fat mouthful of chlorophyll) but arugula would be a great substitution.

I made a simple straight up white wine vinegar and olive oil salad dressing, shook it in a jar, tossed all the salad ingredients together with the dressing in  a large bowl, added coarse sea salt, ground pepper and a sprinkling (about a tsp worth) of dark ground cumin, then tossed again, until everything was coated evenly.

Consider topping with crumbled queso fresca. Or goat feta.

Brown sesame seeds would be tasty.

If there's leftovers, cook up some rice. And fold everything into a tortilla.

Or fry an egg and stick it on top of the beans and corn on a plate and call it Heuvos Whateveros.

I'm telling you, the possibilities are endless.

101 Salads for Everyday Eating: #53 Shaved Brussels Sprouts, Radicchio, Slivered Almonds and Lemon Zest

I know that brussels sprouts inspire a strong reaction. Usually negative. And listen, I've been there too. The one and only time I ate brussels sprouts as a kid was at a family friend's where the sprouts were served boiled to the point of disintegration and they gave off that foul smell that only a cabbage can carry while dying, rotting purposely from the inside out. My father was there too. And when we got home and everyone hauled out of the station wagon he declared he'd hidden his in his hankie and promptly set off to the backyard compost.

I never thought about them again until I dated a cute and vivacious fellow with exceptionally good taste. He kept bragging about his hit salad, this thing made with brussels sprouts and squirts of lemon and generous amounts of grated salty parmesan. Looking at that face, it was hard not to believe there had to be a bit, even a tiny ounce, of truth to his declaration so I set off to experiment behind closed doors.

And he was right. Raw brussels sprouts are an entirely different beast than boiled ones. Roasted ones are pretty tasty too. But when you take the tiny cabbage buds and peel off their old fat outer layers and work with the tender inner bulb something magical happens. It doesn't work chopping them. You have to use the one blade on a box grater or a mandoline but shave a few of them up and toss them with fresh lemon juice and a bit of zest and some decent olive oil and some hard cheese -- gruyere, parma... -- and then toss in some pine nuts or toasted almonds or any variation on the nut it's a ridiculously tasty burst of flavours. It's good as a salad but incredible as a side. Especially now that we're hitting barbecue season. So go forth. Give the little nubs a shot.

This salad is made with:

shaved brussels sprouts

finely sliced radicchio (oh the sprout loves the bitter lettuces)

a tossing of slivered almonds

some salty crumbled goat feta

wee bit of dill

and ribboned kale

The kale was massaged a bit in olive oil. Which is embarrassing I know. Who massages their lettuces? I mean, really. But it tenderizes it and lets it hang out in full limp glory and it just meshes beautifully with everything else.

Here are more Brussels Sprout Salad recipes I've posted since becoming an almighty convert:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Toasted Pecans with Greens in a Warm Whiskey Dressing found here

Sliced Brussels Sprouts with Sugar Snap Peas and Fresh Mint in a Lemon Parmesan Dressing found here

Shaved Fennel and Brussels Sprouts with Pomegranate seeds, Orange Sections and Toasted Hazelnuts found here

101 Salads for Everyday Eating: #52 French Lentils with Nutty Sprouts, Diced Avocado and Grape Tomatoes

I love the texture of this salad and the way the sweet coooked still warm lentils collide with the slightly bitter crunchy dazzle of sprouts. I know sprouts aren't for everyone and you could easily leave them out and add chopped nuts instead but for me they're the epitome of spring. They are as close to that organic earthy taste of the practically living as you can get unless you're willing to get down on all fours.

I'm excited to start sprouting my own mung beans but for now I picked up a package from sprouts for life that contains fenugreek, lentils, kamut and adzuki bean sprouts. Whereas with alfalfa sprouts you can pretty much use them wherever you might favour lettuce i.e. on a thinly sliced toasted piece of sunflower bread smeared with crunchy almond butter and topped with a handful of sprouts, these sprouted seeds are best added to salads.

Always go for the smallest darkest lentil you can find for salads. The large green ones are too hard to cook to that al dente point. The red ones fall apart and are perfect for soups, stews and dals. The brown ones are better than the green ones for salads but try to suss out the French du puy variety. My health food store in Roncesvalles carries a number of bulk lentils and I choose the tiny dark green ones. They require no soaking and very little patience. I put a cup into twice that much water and bring to a boil. At full boil I reduce the heat to medium and cook for 20 minutes. Some are just barely bursting out of their skin splaying open a bit but most are still firm and chewy. Cooked through but not soft.

Lentils

A mix of nutty sprouts or chopped nuts

Some diced avocado

A few quartered grape tomatoes

Fresh dill chopped

A bit of chopped green onion

A tahini dressing is really good here but I stuck to a drizzle of serious extra virgin olive oil, a lot of cracked Himalayan pink salt and a tiny bit of fresh lemon juice.

Tahini Dressing
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons hot water

Mash the minced garlic clove in a bowl with the salt. If you have a mortar and pestle, great, but if not use the back of a wooden spoon. Add the tahini and lemon juice and olive oil and combine. Thin with hot water until you have the consistency you prefer. A mini blender is perfect for these sorts of dressings.

101 Salads for Everyday Eating: #51 Grated Carrots with Blueberries, Sunflower Seeds, Sprouts and Ribboned Kale

So here's the thing. Spring has finally hit Toronto. After an endless excruciating winter of -20 easterlies cluttering my eye lashes with frozen bits of universe and an early daylight savings time that made walking the dog at 7 a.m. feel like walking on the moon, it's now warm-ish, snow is melting in the valley, shades are worn, ugly moth bitten scarves are tossed aside, the swans are swimming rather than burying their beaks into their down, and you can smell  a good dosage of pot in the air, so yeah, maybe spring is here to stay. The turning of the seasons always feels slightly melancholic to me. Or it could be the full moon. The light shifts. You've lost that sense of isolation that winter brings. That strange gift of the 5:30 dusk, both a blessing and a burden. Now things thankfully brighten up but it takes  while in my case at any rate for the spirit to catch up.

Part of me is all let's hit the beach toss a frisbee drink beer catch the sunset light a bonfire cartwheel and kick up sand but another part is still trying to shed the morose skin of winter. I'm happy and hopeful but not entirely there yet.

It's Easter. But an odd one for me. Family is flung as far as the darts could land on a distant bull's eye. I've got a brother in Germany. A sister and 3 nieces and a nephew in the UAE and parents who have basically been jet setting since December 27. God bless them. My father's 71 and hanging out on shrimp boats in rural India sucking back a river boat pint getting milk from the barnyard cow at his homestay for morning coffee. I love my family but Toronto has been black and white without them.

Meanwhile we eat.

It's a strange seasonal time for food. Not quite yet the heart of spring produce so no local asparagus or rhubarb or radishes or heirloom beets. No wild leeks or forest fiddle heads or early mushrooms. The sidewalks are full of tulips and storage apples but it's still hard to dig into something of the essence. So anyway I shopped around and came up with a salad that tastes spring-like if not entirely made up of spring items -- it's sweet, crunchy, nutty, sour, tart, and earthy. That's about the best I could do.

Grated carrots and fresh blueberries,  a surprising but wildly delicious combo.

Alfalfa sprouts give it an earthy zing but if you find them trying shoot for pea sprouts or discard altogether.

I used sunflower seeds but slivered almonds would be great.

I had an abundance of fresh basil so went with that but why not fresh dill or mint?

I kept the salad dairy and protein free but chickpeas would be perfect and chunks of salty feta would also be delicious.

I'm still obsessed with the lacinato organic kale but again if kale is not your thing choose arugula. Or chop up red lettuce leaves and toss together.

Grated carrots

Whole blueberries

Raw sunflower seeds and natural brown sesame seeds

Alfalfa sprouts

Bunch of dinosaur kale, washed, dried, ribboned

Fresh basil

If you're into fennel seeds, sprinkle a few in. They are my new favourite crush.

You need a good dressing here. A homemade one with kick. I like either a maple syrup mustard one or just a straight up mustard vinaigrette. I went with the latter but used Kozlik's horseradish mustard and it was surreal. It's one of the best mustards I've ever tasted and is superb in salad dressings.

Basically it's 2 to 1 oil to acid so choose your oil and your acid and go forth.

I use a light tasting olive oil and either a white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.

I add about a Tbsp of mustard and shake together in a jar.

Sometimes I season with coarse sea salt and crushed chili peppers.

50 Salads for Everyday Eating: #50 kale and kohlrabi and fuji apple tossed with tons of fresh dill and salty goat feta

pebbles by the shore

Bit by bit, stone by stone, shocks of colour against a pallid palette, I've been compiling salads for what seems like eons. I've always had the appetite of a rabbit, albeit a voracious feisty long eared one, or a wood nymph: long on foraging, short on flesh and bone. I don't like little tastes of fat as flirtations of flavour. I've always preferred raw goodness in bountiful amounts seasoned with a ton of pow pow pow. I have so many more salads to create. I'm still somewhat stuck in late fall mid winter early spring which means: kale, fennel, chicories, root vegetables, and storage fruits like apples are making the rounds, again and again. So rather than end at 50 I'm extending until 101. So today's salad isn't the end it's the reincarnation point, the hallmark of next steps, the crown of new discoveries.

Meanwhile, all eyes are pinned on spring.

I struggle through the winter. I love the fresh snow but it's fleeting. I love living by the lake and seeing the palest January hues of purple and blue. But I find the season in general a lot of work. It's freezing rain and then blowing north winds and then easterlies are piercing your eyes and you pinch a nerve in your shoulder from holding them up so tight and you live in your Sorels and homemde knitted socks and wood sweaters and let yourself basically go to the dogs if they lived at a fishing lodge in the north country. I'm eating well but my hygiene is suspect. 

Here's a quick and dirty lunch. Slice OR match stick half of a Fuji apple. Sice OR match stick half of a kohlrabi bulb (likely in practice with the first ingredient). Shave a quarter of a fennel bulb on a box grater. Add everything to your lunch bowl and squeeze half a lemon over top. Season with coarse salt. Cut up a good bunch worth of fresh dill. Chop it into coarse bits. Toss with the other ingredients. Take a handful of washed lacinato kale leaves and ribbon them by laying them flat and cutting them horizontally into 1 inch pieces. Add to the bowl and toss with olive oil. Add some goat feta and sprinkle a few chili pepper flakes and toss again. Eat. So good.

 

50 Salads for Everyday Eating: #49 Make Ahead Chickpea, Carrot and Beet Salad with Hemp Oil and Lemon

This is a sweet savoury chock full of Vitamin C dish to keep on hand for workday lunches. I cook up a batch of organic dried chickpeas. I don't bother with a presoak and my legumes come out just fine. It takes about an hour, 10 minutes at full boil, 50 minutes on medium heat with the lid on. You can cook in plain water, add a bay leaf or a boullion cube for flavour/salt. Drain and rinse when they're done. They are far superior to canned beans: smaller, chewier, nuttier, sweeter, zero mush, no mucous like gravy to rinse off (ugh!).

The green grocers near me carry large baskets of bright orange healthy various sized carrots. Once you've tried them, you'll never eat a prepackaged baby carrot again. They also have different kinds of beets, although at this time of year, in the full throttle of winter when most things look like they barely escaped the root cellar alive, it's mostly the standard purple beet, which is just fine. I am not a fan of cooked beets or pickled for that matter but I love them grated and raw. I use a box grater and it makes a fine mess, the kitchen is very axe murder crime scene afterward, but I grate a batch of them in one dirty turn and then squeeze out the excess water and place in a glass tupperware to keep for a week to add to salads. Such as this one. Next take the carrot and follow the same routine: wash, peel, chop off the ends, grate, squeeze out the excess water, add to a tupperware.

Chickpeas, carrots, beets and chopped kale. That's the beginning of a salad for the beginning of a week. Add some hemp oil** and toss (olive oil would be ok too but I love the dense, green, nutty, full bodied flavour of hemp, next best would be flax) and then halve a lemon and squeeze in lemon juice. Top with coarse sea salt. This salad will keep for about 5 days.

The night before, you can ladle out a few large spoonfuls into a tupperware and toss with:

• chopped apple and sunflower seeds
• an additional green leaf like arugula or mache
• fresh herbs like basil or mint or dill
• black or white sesame seeds

 **I use Ruth's hemp oil which is made on the Canadian prairies. The oil is nutrient rich and full of Omega 6 and 3.

50 Salads for Everyday Eating: #48 Warm Hard Boiled Eggs with Fresh Dill and Shaved Fennel in a Horseradish Mustard Vinaigrette

Dill has become my fresh herb of choice lately. For a while I was tugging towards the essence of spring, so clogged by February's dull gaze, that I got  swept up in the only verdancy I knew which was a green goddess dressing -- all basil and mint and cilantro blended together with lemon and olive oil and a bit of wasabi. But then I discovered lacinato kale ribboned and massaged in oil (hemp, oil, flax, you name it, kale's a bit of a floozy when it comes to rub downs), but then I got hooked on a salad that was various versions of shaved fennel, chopped fresh dill, thinly sliced Fuji apple, and raw kale. Sometimes I added nuts like sunflower seeds or hemp hearts and occasionally I tossed in some cooked garbanzo beans but it was also super tasty just on its own. I love salads that are built on basics that can stand proudly on their own but are also adaptable to adding a whole slew of other random things. Versatality is key.

When I eat salad for lunch while I am working at home I try to add something warm. An ingredient that shifts the dish a bit -- wilts the escarole or kale just a perfect amount or absorbs the dressing in just the right way; it's often legumes that have been cooked from dry or grains like coucous, quinoa or bulgur, but just boiled, still-warm-to-the-touch, perfectly cooked eggs are excellent too.

I tossed some shaved fennel with a bit of freshly chopped dill, added a few black kalama olives in oil (but small green Nicoise ones would be good too), chopped up some radicchio and spooned the horseradish mustard vinaigrette over top. Hardboiled eggs, still warm, absorb vinaigrette, and are a rare delight tossed with greens, especially of the chicory variety, I love this salad mixed in with a vinaigrette, then scrambled again with torn frisee (that prickly slightly bitter lettuce) folding all the flavours together.

I buy a half carton of eggs from Rowe Farms in Roncesvalles Village. They are, hands down, the best eggs I've ever eaten. I follow the Egg Farmers of Ontario guidelines for cooking perfect hard boiled eggs: place the eggs in a pot in a few inches of cold water, bring to a boil, then cover with a lid and set aside for 23 minutes. They said between 18 - 23 minutes but 18 left mine entirely runny. I like mine just-turned to entirely cooked yolk, no orange moistness left.

Some flaked tuna would be a good protein addition. As would some crumbled goat feta.

I use 2 to 1, light tasting olive oil to white wine vinegar, and shake in a jar with 1 tablespoon of Kozlik's horseradish mustard. The stuff is potent. Nose running inducing. But it is also addictive, delicious, intoxicating stuff. He's a Canadian mustard wunderkid who I first came across at St. Lawrence Market. He's got a stall stacked high with tall, thin mustard jars and an assortment of salty pretzels to give them a try. I picked up this mustard from Rowe Farms too.

Hey. Anyone else getting sick of being whipped by winter? I friend of mine emailed me a while ago concerned she may have died inside without fully realizing it. I'm just so tired, so listless, so... blah. I call it February Flatlining. But March is less than a week ago. Starting Friday, all eyes are pinned on spring.

The lake, which is just a few metres away from where I live in the city, is like a mistriss. Tempting me all day long. I used to think I walked a lot when I lived on the ravine, in mid town, with the foxes and rabbits and woodpeckers and Monarch butterflies, and I'd wander the back trails through thickets of 50 foot cottonwood trees, but now that I see water out my window, and when you're down beside the water, all you hear is waves or clashing ice or sand dunes disintegrating or seagulls, it's hard to pull yourself away. 

50 Salads for Everyday Eating: #47 Warm Potato and Green Bean Salad in a Curried Vinaigrette

Years ago, when I was working as the head cook at the art retreat centre up near Georgian Bay and feeding hungry hordes of aggravated artists who spent their days slaying their easels and smudging out bits only to splatter new pieces, this was a favourite salad at the spread. Warm new potatoes, when they are cooked until tender and the flesh splays and the skin breaks, soak up a vinaigrette like nobody's business. I like to keep the acid ratio a bit higher in grain and carb salads in order to avoid an oily overload. The curry powder in this grainy mustard dressing works perfectly -- it's subtle enough not to overpower the delightful simplicity of earthy new potato and crunchy green bean, but it gives it an almost unidentifiable kick. This is one of the recipes that brought the most guests into the kitchen asking: So, about that potato salad, WHAT made it so delicious? I tossed the warm potatoes and the just cooked through green beans with the dressing and then added a lot of chopped cilantro and tossed again, the herbs lose their bite and soften. Dill or parsley would be equally good.

The key to this recipe is to toss the still-warm potatoes with the dressing. They drink it in. The green beans are optional, but they add to the visual appeal of the salad, along with the fresh chopped herbs. Fresh or frozen peas would be a good substitute.

Count on 3 or 4 smallish differently sized new baby potatoes per person

the green beans are more an accent to the dish, so use about a handful and cut into 2 inch pieces

chopped cilantro, parsley or dill

Place potatoes in a large pot. Cover with water and add 1 tsp of salt and a bay leaf. Lower heat and cook until potatoes can be pierced with a fork and the skins break open. This will take about 15 to 20 minutes.

Just before the potatoes are ready to drain, add the green beans and cook for an additional 2 minutes, or until they turn a bright green.

While the potatoes are cooking, make the dressing by whisking together the mustard, lemon juice or cider vinegar, minced garlic, maple syrup and curry powder in a small bowl or jar. Slowly whisk in the oil, until all the ingredients are fully combined.

Drain the potatoes and beans in a colander and shake until the excess water is released. Place in a bowl and toss with the dressing until it is fully absorbed, add the fresh herbs, toss again. Turn out onto a serving platter and sprinkle with sea salt and cracked black pepper.

dressing

3 ounces whole grain mustard
3 3/4 ounces cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice
3 ounces maple syrup
1 garlic clove, minced or crushed

2 tsp curry powder

6 ounces light olive oil or safflower oil

For the past few years I lived on a ravine in the middle of the city and I wrote often about the woods and the way the light spun and spattered through leaf cover. I wrote about dawn and lifting fog. And I wrote about dew on spider webs and copulating beetles. Sometimes the gravelly path was covered in the gooey trails of wandering wayward snails on a mission. It was magical and mostly I miss the bird song but I have found new inspiration. 

I have moved to the edge of the lake with a constantly changing horizon of colour and cloud, light and haze. Waterbirds honk and squack at me and my dog as we scurry the shore like interloping beachcombers.

If you've never experienced the sound of a few swans taking flight, the power of their wings whipping air, the profound beauty of their ascent, I'd give it a shot if you ever get the chance.

50 Salads for Everyday Eating: #46 Shaved Fennel and Brussel Sprouts with Hazelnuts, Pomegranate and Orange

Lunch split between 2, with bread and cheese and cured meats

Lunch for 1 in a big bowl

Dinner side salads for 4 on small plates

+++++

If you have the ingredients on hand, this is a super fast quick orchestration under 15 minutes from start to finish.

Ingredients

1/2 fennel bulb, shaved/cut finely/mandolined

6 Brussel sprouts, shaved/cut finely/mandolined

1 head of Lacinato kale (otherwise known as black kale, dinosaur kale, cavolo nero), ribboned

1/4 pomegranate, seeded

1 orange, peeled, pith cut off, sliced into thin slices

handful of raw hazelnuts

white wine vinegar

olive oil

coarse sea salt

Method

A box grater makes quick work of the fennel bulb and the Brussel sprouts. I like to use the single blade and it creates a perfect feathery wedge. The subtle licorice flavour of the fennel is such a natural pairing to juicy orange slices and tart pomegranate (dry cranberries would be a good substitute if fresh pomegranate isn't available). I've used sweet toasted pecans in this salad before -- and they are delicious -- but raw hazelnuts are surprisingly perfect. Lacinato kale (also called dinosaur kale, cavolo nero, Tuscan kale, black kale) is earthy tasting, cool green in colour, coarse in texture until tenderized by a dressing, and in the end, ridiculously delicious. Up there with quinoa, it's one of the best things on the planet for you nutritionally speaking. Get down with kale. It won't disappoint.

Any kind of homemade grain or dijon mustard vinaigrette with a touch of something naturally sweet like honey or maple syrup is great with kale and fruit and nuts. But the salad is so vibrant and alive and complex on its own that once you've compiled everything into a bowl or onto a place a drizzle of olive oil, a grind of coarse sea salt, and a splash of white wine vinegar is also just enough. Toss the salad with your hands. It's a recent discovery of mine and I wouldn't go back.

* if you have an aversion to the licorice zing of fennel, try nappa/Chinese cabbage as a substitute

** if fresh pomegranate isn't available, or if it's too much work, go for dried cherries or dried cranberries. 

50 Salads for Everyday Eating: #45 Apple and Celery tossed with Kale and Radicchio

So, here's a sort of delicious take to work tupperware lunch: crisp Fuji apple mixed in with chopped celery, ribboned black kale (the flat kale rather than the curly) and radicchio. Raw sunflower seeds add the nuttiness factor and the honey vinaigrette rounds the whole thing out with a touch of sweetness with its characteristic perfectly subtle manner. I love this salad as is, but you could always add dried cranberries or some sort of hard salty cheese or shredded bits of cooked chicken if you have any lying around the fridge. Legumes don't really meld well with the earthy fruity flavours but quinoa would be delicious. I tend to start with the most elemental ingredients and then build.

Fill the bottom of whatever size bowl you are serving from with chopped washed celery. If it's a single serving tupperware, fill it 1/4 the way up; if it's a large wooden bowl, do the same. Slice into thin wedges pieces of crisp apple (at this time of year I chose Fuji - a mostly sweet apple with a slight bite - but in the true season of Fall I'd have chosen a mutsu or a honeycrisp) and add to the celery. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to the mix and toss to coat to keep the apple slices from browning. Cut the kale into thinnish (1/2 inch) ribbons, toss in, then chop up some radicchio. Add. Season with coarse sea salt. Throw in a handful of raw sunflower seeds (or, if you prefer, roasted and salted).

Makes 1 1/2 cups

1/2 cup raw, unpasteurized honey, preferably local

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

juice of 1 lemon

3/4 cup olive oil, or oil of choice

In a bowl, whisk together the honey, vinegar, and lemon juice. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Pour in increments over the salad, tossing to coat.

50 Salads for Everyday Eating: #44 Warm Dinner Salad of Roasted Butternut Squash in Pesto on Sticky Black Thai Rice

This is a super quick, super tasty, exotic but straight up sort of vegetarian dinner your girl friends might get around to if you ply them with Riesling or Portuguese Vinho Verde (both sparkling and sassy and the perfect counterpoint to the slight sweetness of the squash and the sticky rice) and serve the meal in pretty bowls. A sourdough baguette and some Manchego cheese would be a bit great, as would a sliced perfectly barely ripe pear. The meal takes about 45 minutes of cooking time but zero prep time and 5 minutes plating time. Do you have something in your repertoire that's faster to prepare, prettier to look at, and equally healthful? Cause if you do, send it my way!

This is the gist of the recipe and then I'll break it down a bit further for you.

Take a butternut squash, wash it, stick it whole on a baking pan and stick into a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through (a knife will slip easily in and out of the entire squash). Peel cooked squash with a knife and cut into cubes. Toss with your favourite pesto sauce. Many are wildly different. I love the traditional basil parmesan pesto but I also love a spicy cilantro pesto that appears more like a vinaigrette with chopped herbs.

Meanwhile cook the black sticky rice, as it takes about the same amount of time: 45 minutes. Here's a weird fact: black sticky rice (like sushi rice, etc) is considered a glutinous rice, and yet... it is safe for gluten free diets, i.e. it has no gluten. Strange. It can be a bit gummy and I tend to overly rinse it before I cook it and then also drain it and run through cold then hot water again once cooked to clear away the starch. Black rice is referred to as a sweet rice but it ain't sweet. It's got a nutty taste and a solid texture and it's full of vitamins and minerals and fibre, more than brown rice. I find cooking this sort of rice to be more effective if I boil it rather than steam it. Using the latter remedy has resulted in too many miscalculations and soggy rice or uncooked rice. If you triple the water content and bring the rice to a boil, then lower the heat to low, and simmer until cooked through, about 45 minutes for 1/2 cups of cooked rice (3 cups uncooked), you'll end up with a perfectly cooked glistening purple rice to counterbalance your squash.

Top with fresh or fried sage leaves.

If you're not doing the bread and cheese thing (and frankly after the holidays that might be a good thing), serve a large inviting salad mixed with winter greens like arugula, endive and frisee then toss with a bit of shaved parmesan and whatever nut you have on hand: hazlenuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds -- all would be good!

 

50 Salads for Everyday Eating: #43 Wheatberry and Basmati Salad with Corn and Pea Shoots in a Honey-Apple Cider Vinaigrette

If there's any reason to make extra basmati, it's the excuse to make fried rice or to save some for a salad the following day. I love how the rice segregates when it's cool losing all of its starchy stickiness. In the heat of summer, I love to toss cold rice with baked tofu and cucumber slices then douse it all in rice vinegar and top with roasted chopped peanuts, but in the fall / winter, a rice salad works best with another grain that is a bit heftier. Helloooo wheat berry. The endosperm addition to the equation (literally). This grain is a delight of chewy nuttiness. I love the sweet subtlety of basmati but I almost like it even more matched with something shorter, chewier, meatier like a whole unprocessed grain such as the hard wheat berry (super easy to cook, by the way, and full of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals). They tango well together.

Add to the salad the colour and sweetness and general delight of corn kernals and something fresh and slightly citrusy like pea shoots and it's a pretty great lunch.

Ingredients

Leftover cooked basmati rice (or any rice)

Wheat berries

Corn kernals, fresh or frozen

Pea shoots, chopped (substitutes: arugula, fresh herbs (dill, basil or parsley), baby spinach)

To cook the wheat berries: Rinse them under running water. Fill a pot half way with water, add 1/2 cup of wheat berries* and bring to a boil. Turn down to medium heat, and let simmer / slow boil for about 45 minutes. Check for consistency. Al dente or still chewy works best for salads. Once they are cooked through, drain in a sieve, and toss with your left over rice.

Meanwhile...

cut kernals off of fresh cobs of corn (or use frozen), and add to about an inch of water in a flat deep frying pan. Heat over high, tossing constantly, for about 3 minutes, or until the kernals have turned bright yellow. You want to steam the kernals rather than boil them. Drain the cooked kernals in a sieve and toss to shake off all the excess water.

Add to rice and wheat berry mix. Toss with dressing. Add in any fresh tasting greens: chopped pea shoots or arugula or baby spinach or chopped fresh herbs (cilantro and parsley combined or basil or dill or fresh chives). You could also use tender rainbow chard leaves or dandelion leaves if you have either on hand, just ribbon the leaves thinly. Tossed with the warm ingredients, they will wilt a bit, which is what you want! -- it saps any bitterness. 

Honey Apple Cider Vinaigrette, makes about 1 cup but it keeps in a jar in the refrigerator**

1/2 cup of honey (always buy unpasteurized raw honey ideally from close to where you live -- local honey is made from local bees who obviously use local pollen providing you with antibodies)

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 green onion, minced

3/4 cup olive oil

Coarse sea salt and cracked black pepper

Whisk together the honey and the vinegar, add the juice of the lemon and the green onion, whisk again, then add the olive oil until blended. Spoon over the salad, tossing until absorbed.

*1 cup raw wheat berries equals 2 1/2 cups cooked.

**Old mason jars or mustard jars rinsed and soaped in hot water make perfect salad dressing containers. You can seal them tight enough to be able to shake vigorously.

50 Salads for Everyday Eating: #42 Red Spinach and Chinese Celery with Sweet Walnuts in a Maple Syrup Vinaigrette

Well, hello there. It's been a while. I had a very busy summer of moving house and then I let it all hang and unfold as it should through the Fall to the smell of algae and the light of the horizons over the lake out my window. I am so happy in my new neighbourhood. It's a magical place filled with antique chandelier shops, vintage dress boutiques, a vibrant and still thriving video store (!), a cheese shop, an eco meat shop, multiple bakeries, some grotty coffee shops filled with miscreants and characters who talks to themselves, but it's lovely and alive and I feel at home. I often snap the leash on the dog and we head out into the world and it takes us 3 hours to make our way back. There's just so much to see.

A favourite fall salad. Red spinach is a beautiful thing. It's made up of little vibrant leaves strung together on a very weedy, reedy, chewy, sweet stalk. I've never seen anything quite like it before in the lettuce world and I've been around my greens, as you know. They were piled high in gentle, puffy stacks at the Chinese grocer and even when I grabbed moundfuls and stuffed them into several clear plastic bags, I didn't seem to make a dent in the cloud . It's chewy and sweet and herbaceous but subtle. Add in some chopped Chinese celery and you're talking. It's like regular celery but more narrow, less celery tasting, and it looks like thick stalked parsley.

I threw in some candied nuts because they are sweet and crunchy and round out the flavour perfectly.

This is great as a very simple lunch eaten with a hunk of bread and some grassy mountain cheese or with dinner and a side of pork and rice.

Candied Pecans or Walnuts

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or light vegetable oil: safflower/sunflower/grapeseed

2 tablespoons organic sugar or light brown sugar

1/2 cup raw pecans

Set a nonstick pan over medium heat. Add the butter or oil and the sugar until they have melted together, toss in the pecans, and stir to coat. Cook through for about 1 minute. Transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper / waxed paper and continue cooking in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Salad Dressing

When I make lunch at home, I pour dressing from a glass jar where I've already prepared the dressing (honey jars are perfect!). But this recipe will make enough for 4 side servings.

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard or whole grain mustard (or really any authentic mustard you enjoy that has a kick and a bite to it)

2 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil (or any light tasting vegetable oil like sunflower, safflower, grapeseed)

2 teaspoons pure maple syrup

salt and pepper