January. If there's a time to commit to eating more greens and reds and purples and experimenting with new vegetables (kohlrabi, daikon radish, napa cabbage, pea sprouts, Jerusalem artichoke...) and perhaps giving old hangups a new chance (brussels sprouts, beets, cabbage, zucchini...) then now is it. I have some tips to help you along.
- Wash your vegetables as soon as you get home from the grocery store. Toss them into the sink, fill it up with water, and soap, let sit, drain, then spin dry everything and put into large ziplock bags. The stuff will keep perfectly for a week and be ready to use when you want it.
- Another idea, when you buy things like oversized good looking carrots and rustic beets, and have good intentions, but then they get lost with the busyness of life, and the stuff turns limpid in the crisper drawer, here's a solution: just set aside half an hour one weekend afternoon and get out your food processor with the grating blade. Peel the carrots and beets and then process away. Squeeze out the excess water from the grated vegetables and then store them in a tupperware to add to salad with nuts and dried fruit and salty cheeses all week long! Perfect!
Meanwhile, here's a salad for you, delicious for fall and winter when brussels sprouts and nuts are a welcome hearty addition to salad.
This salad makes enough for about 6.
Melt some butter or olive oil in a shallow baking pan in an oven preheated to 400 degrees. Toss about 1 lb of sprouts and 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts in the butter with some salt. Roast until the sprouts are golden and the nuts fragrant, about 12 to 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, organize your lettuces. Winter ones are especially wonderful with the warm sprouts and nuts and the heated dressing. Think frissee and endive, escarole and radicchio. Add freshly chopped herbs like chunks of Italian parsley or leaves of oregano. Salty shavings of pecorino or Parmesan would be good too.
Make a salad dressing that is robust: 1 tablespoon whiskey seed mustard (regular dijon will do just fine, minus the kick of the whiskey!), 3 tablespoons white wine/tarragon vinegar, 2 tablespoons water, 6 tablespoons olive oil, 1/4 cup minced shallot (or green onion), 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Prepare in a glass jar or ceramic bowl so you can microwave it for 2 minutes before pouring over the salad. I like to serve the dressing hot because it slightly wilts the winter lettuces and it's a magnificent flavour burst: bitter endive with sweet warm whiskey and the heat of a fine mustard. But if you're going with traditional lettuces then avoid a warm dressing -- it'll make short shrift of the lettuces and you'll be left with a soggy mess -- and choose a simple oil and white wine or sherry or balsamic vinegar.
Prepare a generous amount of greens in a large wooden serving bowl. Add the roasted but slightly cooled nuts and brussels sprouts. Heat the dressing and add enough to just coat everything. Keep tossing until absorbed.
Dried cranberries are great here too. As are roasted heirloom colourful beets.
Go for it. Think large. Think wonderful.
Brussels Sprouts: cultivated in Belgium in the 16th c, they are like wee cabbage heads. Seasonally available from late August through March. Best roasted or raw (grated/chopped finely) rather than boiled. They are one of those nutritional powerhouses, part of the cruciferous vegetable family, and chock-full of Vit. A and C, plus a good dose of iron.
Good partners for the SPROUT: when raw, I love them with zingy lemon and salty cheese. Sometimes with a bit of sweetness too like dried currants or cranberries. When roasted, they thrive in a tangy sauce of maple syrup, hot mustard and a bit of mild olive oil or butter. Some people love a cream sauce, like a bechamel, but I am not those people.
