After we moved to Davis, we began to understand that the salads of our childhoods--tomatoes and lettuce--were strange hybrids, requiring ingredients that cannot usually be found in the same time and place. Most lettuces like cool, damp weather, while tomatoes are sun lovers. Occasionally, one can find both late lettuces and early tomatoes at the Farmers Market. For those who crave that combination, now is the time. But if you want to make good market salads, the best strategy is to look, smell, and taste what is on offer at the market and to experiment with how to combine different textures, colors, shapes, and flavors. It is often true that ingredients that are in season at the same time go well together. Letting go of the notion that green is the only salad color will also free you to think differently about what counts as a salad.
We will offer
more reflections on salads as spring ingredients start to turn up at
the market. But for now, we want to start with a winter salad we eat
often. We purchase all of the ingredients for this apple, endive, and
walnut salad at the market--except for the salt and pepper. The walnut
oil we show here is from walnuts grown and pressed in Woodland and is
available at the Coop. But walnut oil is also sometimes available at
the Farmers Market. It adds a smoky, nutty heft to vegetable and grain salads.

Hey folks,
ReplyDeleteI have a blog for food from the market too. I work for a stand called Good Humus. My Blog is here: http://cookingfromthedavisfarmersmarket.wordpress.com/
Good Luck with yours. Peace, Tree.