The First Spring Salad
On Thursday, when I was working outside, I harvested the first of the spinach that I overwintered in my hoop houses. It’s coming to life quite nicely this spring.
The leaves on the ‘Giant Winter’ that survived were huge. The leaves on the ‘Catalina’ were smaller, but there were more of them and the plants dealt with the cold best of the 2 varieties I planted.
I also harvested some dandelion and bitter cress greens to mix in with the spinach. We topped these lovely greens with: pastured smoked bacon, organic pastured eggs, caramelized organic onions, local organic raw milk blue cheese, and a maple vinaigrette made with some of our very own maple syrup.
It made for the perfect dinner, quick to make and delicious to eat! I’m looking forward to salad season, there’s definitely something cleansing about eating salads in the spring. It seems our bodies crave the greens and all the vitamins they provide after the long winter.
What’s your favorite salad green? Are you harvesting any from your garden yet?
Filed under Edible, Spinach | Comments (18)
What a beautiful salad! And it sounds delicious too. I planted spinach too late, only one little plant lived and I didn’t bother with any winter protection. Amazingly it survived and I sampled a sweet and tender leaf yesterday. It was enough to inspire a better attempt at it this year.
to Quinn's comment
my mouth’s watering just at the sound of your maple dressing!
I love growing rocket and snack on it frequently when I’m down at the allotment. In fact I rarely end up picking it for my plate at home because I’ve eat so much when I’m there!
to nic@nipitinthebud's comment
Oh my word, that looks just delicious!!! I am hoping to plant some spinach in my garden soon!
to Rene’ Sharp's comment
Just planted arugula, spinach, and Rouge d’Hiver lettuce in the garden two days ago. Arugula is by far my favorite.
to Jessica's comment
MMMM, I love arugula on BLT’s – so good!
to Susy's comment
Looks delicious, I took a 6 green salad to a dinner at some friends last nite. It was wonderful- 3 types of lettuce, swiss chard, kale, and spinach! So happy that spring is here!
to Melisa's comment
I have some hopes that the chard didn’t die completely and may revive shortly. In the meantime, I planted lettuce seeds yesterday, though it may be awhile before those get warm enough weather to do anything.
There is no way I could get away with serving just a salad for dinner, no matter how many yummy things were in it. It’s tiring having such a meat-and-potatoes husband sometimes . . .
to kristin @ going country's comment
Wow, I am super hungry right now, or your salad looks EXCEPTIONALLY delicious… probably both! Yum!
to Jennelle's comment
I’m a big fan of spinach. Which is funny, because up until really last year, I hardly touched the stuff!
No greens from out garden yet. I didn’t have the proper structure to overwinter the spinach I planted in the fall, but I think I might us your idea/plan to build one for this winter. Your spinach looks so good!
to Kaytee's comment
My favorite salad green is probably arugula. It self-sows so rampantly in my garden that I rarely have to plant any of it!
to Daedre Craig's comment
I’m in zone 8 so we’re in the thick of salad season. Love it! This is the first year that I’ve eaten chard raw in salads. I don’t think I’ll ever cook it again. So beautiful and delicious! I have some local olive oil and blackberry vinaigrette which makes wonderful dressing.
to Lee's comment
This looks so incredibly delicious!
to Michelle's comment
I successfully overwintered some lettuce in an unheated greenhouse and have been eating from it for over a month! I’ll definitely do that again this fall. :-)
to KimP's comment
I totally look forward to my first lettuces! I planted some Black Seeded Simpson and just bought a packet of heirloom lettuce and another of Sea of Red, both from Renee’s Gatden. Oh and also started some arugula, as it is fast and easy to grow. Hopefully I will try overwintering spinach like you this year.
to Estelle's comment
My salad bowl is full except for summer. It’s too danged hot. Your salad looks great.
to MAYBELLINE's comment
Is it too early to plant spinach outside in NE Ohio? It would be without protection, too (no hoop house, row covers). What about with protection? I’ve thought about buying row covers. Thing is, I can’t take them off/put them on during the day if it gets to warm since my garden is at a community garden and there is no way I could get there and do that before work…
to Marie's comment
No, I think it’s warm enough to plant it outside now. I have lettuce that’s uncovered that’s doing fine.
to Susy's comment
Your salad looks great! Your dressing sounds wonderful. What a great way to use your maple syrup too! Our lettuce & spinach season are rapidly coming to an end. Half of the lettuce has bolted and the other half is just about to start. The spinach is headed that direction also. Way too hot here already (So TX). SO SAD! The chard is doing alright at the moment and I am crossing my fingers it will last a bit longer. My fav salad is a mix of lettuce, chard, red Russian kale and spinach with homemade crouton and a homemade vinegar/oil/mustard dressing. Emily
to Sincerely, Emily's comment