Winter Salad

Today has been a seasonal November day here in our patch of New England.  The wind stretched it’s invisible, frigid fingers, in and around the bare trees in our woods, and I watched them twist and bend; at the mercy of winter’s encroaching will.  Icy fingers, wielding a wand of frosty temperatures and formidable gusts.

Despite the bright sun in a blue, blue sky, I felt the full, windy, force of the season; when I went out for a brief spell with the dogs.  Their short hair offers no protection from the wind and cold, so we didn’t linger in the sun filled “back forty”.

Its the end of November.  Daylight dwindles by 4:30 and the birds, that have pecked and pulled seeds from the feeders all day; are seeking roosting for the night ahead.

As much as I love summer, particularly the gardens, their fruits and vegetable offerings so plentiful;  I love this time of year just as much.  The gifts from the garden are still feeding our bodies and souls.  I just put the very last of black knight cherry tomatoes in a salad last weekend!  The warm Indian Summer extended the harvest this year.  Root vegetables are some of late summer’s gifts.

Years ago, when we were feeding our young, growing family, I planted a much larger vegetable garden.  I grew all of the typical vegetables and fruits, tomatoes, two varieties of zucchini, summer squash, pole and bush beans.  Plentiful all…delicious fresh from the garden.  Nothing compares to picking them fresh and still warm from the sun, minutes before eating them.

In those long ago vegetable gardens I also planted root vegetables; carrots, parsnips, beets. One year we planted potatoes, the potato bugs discouraged me from doing that again!   Potatoes are easy and inexpensive enough to buy.

I don’t plant the root vegetables these days.  I am blessed to have a year round organic farm market a few miles down the road.  I can purchase them locally, which helps to keep small businesses thriving and free’s my limited garden space for the vegetables that are undeniably BEST fresh from the garden.  A win, win for us all.  Shop locally… if and whenever you can.

So, I go a bit down the road to get root vegetables of the most delectable kind.  Sweet, crunchy, vitamin and mineral saturated roots.  There are many ways to incorporate these colorful roots into meals.   This winter salad is one of my favorites…I’m fairly sure I’m not the first to create this kind of salad, but this is my version, and its a keeper for my family.  In fact, I made it for a family gathering this past weekend, and my daughter-in-law Gina, asked me to… “please, please, put it on your blog soon”!  So, here it is.

Winter Salad

You will need:

2 large unpeeled carrots, grated with the large opening of your grater

1 cup of thinly sliced celery, including celery leaves…the more leaves the better

1 large, cored, unpeeled apple, diced into chunks

1 small shallot, thinly sliced

1 package of prepared, steamed, vacuum packed beets found in the vegetable aisle at most markets…( I love the ones I get at Trader Joe’s).  Dice the beets into chunks.

dried thyme, salt and pepper,

Avocado oil, and white fig infused balsamic vinegar (see photo below)

4 oz crumbled feta

OPTIONAL:

1/2 cup of  roasted walnut or pecan pieces

endive or radicchio, rough chopped

Get out your cutting board and your sharpest knife.  Get to work thinly slicing and dicing.  The thin slices here, of the celery and shallot in particular, make this salad, in my opinion, that much more delicious.  Something about those thin slices.  Chunk the apple and the beets into small chunks.  (refer to photos)

Once you have gotten the root vegetables, apple, celery and shallot in a large bowl, add salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle about a half teaspoon of dried thyme over the mixture.  Mix all the ingredients together then drizzle about 3 TB of avocado oil and 1 to 2 TB of fig infused white balsamic vinegar over the mixture.   Mix well, then add 4 oz. of crumbled feta cheese.

Get out a spoon and give the salad a taste test.   Adjust the taste to your liking.  If there is too much balsamic vinegar add a bit more avocado oil.  If there isn’t enough balsamic vinegar, add a bit more.  Drizzle gently, mix well, and give it another taste test.  Also, keep in mind, feta cheese is salty in itself, so you might want to omit adding salt before you add the feta. Adjust to taste.

If you are using roasted walnuts or pecans, add them just before serving.  Stir them into the salad well and feel free to add raisins, chopped figs, different cheeses…experiment and make this salad your own kind of keeper.

Enjoy this salad throughout the long, dark and chilly winter months.  It is a salad that goes with every meal, and, as there is no lettuce (to wilt) in it, it is just as good left over for lunch the next day.

Many Blessings…