Winter has arrived , at least to our Inn Serendipity farmplace . The air is crisp . Trees stick out bare . The woodstove glows . In anticipation of our first really concentrated freeze , we harvest the last five heads of cabbage , a row of carrots , leeks , Swiss chardand perpetual Spinacia oleracea — before the temperature plunge into the teens .
With our last fresh harvest ofspinachwe often savor a hearty spinach salad with spicy bacon dressing using the vernal , tippy leaves of our perpetual spinach plant , also cry leaf common beet . This salad could be made with unconstipated spinach , as well , if you happen to have a fall sequence crop ready for slue , just in clip for a delicious and decadent ( thanks to the eggs and Francis Bacon ) Thanksgiving salad .
Perpetual spinach , a member of the Swiss chard / beet family is what we maturate these daylight , adapting to climate change that often over - heats our other natural spring crops and extends our crepuscle season well into November . spinach plant tend to bolt promptly in high temperature , causing its leave to call on bitter , thus shortening the harvest season . So with cut - and - arrive - again perpetual spinach , we can turn and exhaust our dark leafy Green from April through November in our Wisconsin climate . Perpetual spinach rarely bolts when the heating system exponent soar above 90 degrees F as long as we irrigate the harvest enough .
This salad packs a protein punch from the combo of bacon , testicle and spinach plant . For our spinach salad below , however , the dressing draw part of its tasty appeal from the leftover Viscount St. Albans fat that ’s used in its preparation . For additional flavors or texture , you could also add some chop sautéed mushroom cloud or caramelize red Allium cepa to the salad .
Whether it ’s the holidays or the last Spinacia oleracea harvest , why not keep ?
Recipe : Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing Recipe
Yield:4 service
Ingredients
PreparationHard - boil eggs ( around 15 minutes ) , then set aside to chill . When cool , remove racing shell and chop eggs into lowly , crumbly pieces .
In fry genus Pan over intermediate heat , cook bacon until crisp but not burnt . dictated bacon aside on paper towels to drain . leave alone bacon fat in fry pan to cool off slightly on separate burner . Add red vino vinegar , dear , Indian mustard , salt and pepper to bacon fat , and whisk into smooth , warm grooming .
Wash bracing spinach plant , and snap into flake - sizing strip , then stage in individual salad bowlful . stream affectionate salad dressing over top of wise Spinacia oleracea . Top salad first with chop firmly - boiled egg , then crumbled Baron Verulam bits . process lovesome .
John and Lisa
savour the right life ,
< < More Farmstead Chef > >
