Salad Season is Here Again!

A short post today to celebrate the fact that easy salads are back in my life. Since I work on Saturday mornings it's tough for me to make it to the downtown farmer's market. Until the East Side Market starts I'm dependent on what the Co-op can get, plus what I can grow myself. My little patch of salad greens is not quite ready to cut, so this week I was delighted to find local salad mix from Harmony Valley Farm back in stock at the Co-op. I'm betting it came out of a hoop house. How beautiful!

Before I tell you about the salad I made tonight, I have to show off these beautiful mugs. They are an early housewarming present from Stanley, my wonderful boyfriend. He knows a local potter, and he knows my love for chickens, so he commissioned these two mugs - one is a hen and one is rooster. Beautiful. Thank you darling! I'm sure they will make many appearances on this blog.

OK, back to salad....

My dinner tonight started with a beautiful piece of grass-fed steak from Black Earth and four spears of luscious local asparagus.

I cut the steak into strips and seared in using high heat in my cast iron skillet.

When the steak was cooked medium rare, I turned the heat off and threw in the asparagus. The case iron keeps its heat for a while, and the residual warmth was just enough to lightly cook the asparagus. I like it almost raw, more warmed than cooked really.

Meanwhile, I hard-boiled two of my chicken's eggs, peeled them, and quartered them. Just look at those yolks!

A big bowl of salad greens.....

A quick vinaigrette of local sunflower oil, apple cider vinegar (Unfortunately not local - I still haven't figured out why none of the local orchards make vinegar.....), salt, and fresh pepper.

Toss it all together, and dinner is served. Though it's been chilly this week, there's no doubt that the season of heavy meat and potato dishes is over, and salad season is back. All local except for the cider vinegar, salt, and pepper. Delicious!

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