Salad greens: spinach, Bull’s Blood beet greens, staghorn, mache
I had no idea whether winter gardening would actually work in Utah when I planted out these seedlings last fall. On February 28, salad was on the menu, all from greens planted last fall. None except the spinach are greens I would buy at the store, but all are extremely hardy. Despite a collapse of the plastic tunnels, even one little lettuce survived. Last year was experimental; this year I am planning for a major fall planting to feed us well through the winter.
Mache, or corn salad, is a classic French winter salad green, served whole with walnut oil vinaigrette. I had no walnut oil, splashing on olive oil and tarragon vinegar to good effect. The staghorn, or minutina, didn’t have much flavor as a fall green, but it brightened up as it matured and is nicely crispy. The Bull’s Blood beets are grown for their tops; I will be planting heaps of them this year because we liked them so much: texture, color and taste.
Here at the palace, food photography gets a scant allotment of time when dinner is ready and I have a hungry spouse to feed. Planning ahead seems to be the key, so I have time to make the salad AND the photos while the chicken is roasting and before the cork is pulled. Or the screwcap, these days.
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