Spring/early summer continues to be wet and cool which means fresh produce is still mostly asparagus, greens, strawberries, and snow peas. Something out there has also sent my allergies into overdrive so I am keeping my One Local Summer meal simple for this week with a salad. To learn more about One Local Summer visit the host for the second year, Farm to Philly.
The salad started with mixed baby greens. To the greens I added some chopped garlic scapes and young onions (bulb portion about golf ball size). The grower/seller of the onion was telling people to think of them as “chives on steroids.” All of the ingredients so far come from the Michigan City’s Farmer’s Market from one vendor. I need to find out their names or farm name as I am going to be talking about them and their lovely good almost every week.
To top things off I added crumbled Capriole goat cheese (also purchased at the MC market) and dried berry and cherry mixture purchased from one of my favorite vendors, Lehman’s Orchard, at the Chesterton European Market. The folks who sell for them in Chesterton are among the nicest people I have ever met. The blackberryand walnut dressing for the the salad was purchased from Garwood Orchard for whom is was specially bottled. Unfortunately I don’t have information on the source of the ingredients but it is free from high fructose corn syrup and supports a 6th generation family farm that is less than 8 miles from my home. Garwood’s was also the source of a few snow peas added for crunch. My own garden provided some purple basil for garnish and a bit of extra flavor.
Walnuts or chicken would have made a nice addition to the salad to give it a bit more substance. My favorite thing about the salad was the way the sweet tart of the dressing, the chewiness of the dried cherries (sweet and sour) and blueberries, combined with the creaminess of the goat cheese. I need to think of ways to showcase that combination.
