A Really Delicious (and Pretty) Swiss Chard Salad

Well, I had a baby at the end of May. I spent weeks just staring at her perfect little face, napping and soaking it up, sustained and nurtured by spectacular meals made and delivered by friends and family. It works like this: you have a baby, and someone, like your sister, calls up all your friends and invites them to prepare you a meal and deliver it on a particular day. That means your baby-admiring visitors come one at a time, and when they do, it's the best thing ever. We ate handmade sushi one night and baked macaroni and cheese with freshly baked bread the next,  followed by stuffed pork chops with grilled vegetables, chicken cacciatore, Thai curry, roasted ham and vegetables.....

There was so much love in that food. I never wanted to cook again. Thankfully. two months later, I'm regaining my passion for the kitchen. It helps to have a weekly box of lovely vegetables delivered to me from my friend Sarah's new farm. Like many gardens in the Valley, hers produces lots of beautiful Swiss Chard.

I love Rainbow chard braised with lots of garlic and caramelized onions, but I'm always a little disappointed that the brilliance of its orange, pale green and red stems fades with cooking. Chard is slightly challenging as a raw salad green when it's mature, which is why the dressing I make for this is extra scrumptious.  It's a big gorgeous salad with lots of extra yummy things that make it just right for your next summer barbecue, or to bring to a new mother. ❤

Pretty Delicious Swiss Chard Salad 

1 bunch rainbow Swiss Chard, washed and cut into ribbons
1/2 cup crumbled Feta
1/4 cup chopped Almonds
1/2 cup slivered Red Onion
A big handful of Raspberries
1/4 cup dried Cranberries

Spread the chard on a large platter and arrange the feta, almonds, red onion, raspberries and cranberries on top.  Drizzle with lots of the dressing just before serving and toss gently.

Dressing:

1/4 cup Maple Syrup
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Grainy Mustard
1 clove Garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper
Shake all the ingredients together in a jar with a tight fitting lid.

Funky Little Sugar Shack

Nova Scotian Sugar Maple

Ahhhhh, maple syrup.  So sweet, so delicious, so luxurious!  Having a jar of it in my fridge makes me feel rich.  I dole it out in little spoonfuls on the kid's pancakes, stir it into my coffee, and add a good slurp to my salad dressings.  Maple syrup is incredibly expensive as far as sugar goes, which is a good thing.  Just imagining how much work goes into its production heightens my enjoyment of it immensely.

Inside the Sugar Shack

Every year, my dad taps the sugar maples in front of my parent's house.  He collects the sap in buckets, then transfers those to a large barrel, which he pools with sap from our neighbours.  It all ends up at Eric and Noreen Clem's sugar shack, where long but pleasant hours are spent boiling the sap in open pans over an ancient wood stove. It's mostly the men sitting into the wee hours of the morning waiting for the syrup to hit just the right consistency before pulling it off the fire and divvying it up.  You've probably heard that it takes 40 litres of sap to make just 1 litre of syrup, but that's not an exact science.  Making maple syrup is an art, a passion, and a commitment.

Sap at a Rolling Boil!

What if all the food we ate was like maple syrup?  What if the price we paid truly reflected the effort of its production?  Would we enjoy more and consume less if just feeding ourselves cost 55% of our income, like it does for the average East Indian household?  North Americans on average spend less than 10% of our salaries on food, leaving us with more money for bigger houses, leisure activities, and stuff.  We also have the highest rates of mental illness and obesity.  I don't think it is much of a leap to believe that if we were more connected to the food on our plate, we would feel more whole and satisfied.  A little time spent with our neighbours wouldn't hurt, either. 

If you don't have a shack of your own, you can still have great Nova Scotian maple syrup.  Nova Scotian maple producers made 128,000 litres of pure maple syrup last year, and it can be found at farmer's markets, specialty shops and sometimes, your local grocery store.  Buy a big jug, it's cheaper and lasts a long time if you refrigerate it.  And you're gonna need it if you like the following recipe as much as I do!


Maple Syrup Dumplings

I did not invent this recipe.  It is straight from March's issue of Saveur, and when I saw the picture, I had to make it, even though it uses a ridiculous amount of maple syrup.  We had ours with vanilla ice cream, and I suggest you do the same.

SERVES 6


1 3/4 cups Maple Syrup
1 1/2 cups Flour
4 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp. Kosher Salt
4 tbsp. unsalted Butter, frozen
3/4 cup Milk

Bring syrup and 1 1/4 cups water to a boil in a 6-qt. Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside. Grate butter on large holes of a box grater into flour and toss to coat; add milk and stir with a fork until dough forms. When syrup mixture reaches a boil, use a spoon to drop large clumps of dough into syrup. Cover pot; simmer until dumplings are cooked through, 10–15 minutes. Spoon dumplings and sauce into 6 bowls and serve.



Maple Balsamic Dressing 
This dressing, made in quantity, lasts a long time in your fridge.  I guarantee it will increase your salad consumption.  It can be as simple as buying bagged greens from the market, and tossing them with enough dressing to coat.  You might find that the olive oil solidifies in your fridge.  Either remember to take it out half an hour before you use it, or warm it for about 30 seconds in a microwave.

1/4 C. Maple Syrup
1/4 C. Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 C. Apple Cider Vinegar
1 C. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or substitute vegetable oil)
1 Clove Garlic, minced
1 t. Salt

Combine all the ingredients in a jar and shake.  Taste, you might find it a bit sharp (I like vinegary dressings).  If it is too puckery, add a little more olive oil.

Shack and Sugar Maple photos courtesy of Mom and Dad (thanks!)

Mixed Baby Greens

The little baby lettuces in my garden enjoyed the rains of last week. Gorgeous curls of burgundy, bright green and speckles of dark red form a plush carpet. I've often seen mesclun at its peak and thought that Anne Geddes would do well to nestle a perfect peach of a baby in amongst the leaves, but luckily my own little ones weren't plopped down naked and photographed. For one thing, it's still frigid in June around here, and for another, we don't want to squish our salad.
Many gardeners go to their efforts for the sake of salad security, and that is my primary reason for spending more on the garden then I would at the farmer's market. I like arugula and chard, beet greens and mustards, lettuces and spinach, and all of them love being in the salad bowl together. If you find yourself with some fresh greens, either your own or obtained at the market, make it easy on yourself. Either have a great dressing ready to go in the fridge that makes tossing and serving a matter of seconds, or dump the greens in a bowl and dress them right then and there. Here's how you do it:

Fresh Greens with “Molly Dressing” (this was a lame attempt to make my daughter love salad)

A bowlful of prepared greens (washed, dried, torn or chopped if necessary)
Fresh Garlic
Salt
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar (or the Apple Balsamic made by Boates)
Pure Maple Syrup

Place the garlic (about 1 small clove for a big bowl of salad) on a cutting board and smash it with the side of your knife. I do this by laying the side of the knife on the garlic and pressing down firmly until the garlic smushes. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt and, again using the side of the knife, mash it into a paste. Throw this into the bowl with the greens. Drizzle in some olive oil (maybe a couple spoonfuls) and toss the greens with tongs or your hand until they are lightly and evenly coated with oil. Add a few splashes of balsamic (go easy) and a healthy dollop of maple syrup. Mix, mix, mix, until the garlic is distributed. Now taste, taste, taste, and add a little more maple syrup or vinegar if it needs it. Pile into individual serving bowls. Each serving is amazing just how it is, but you could also top them with bits of Bleu or Parmesan cheese, toasted pecans or almonds, sliced strawberries, sectioned oranges, garlic croutons or whatever you can imagine!

I've always loved Green Goddess dressing, and if you haven't had it, try this! It's best drizzled over your salad rather than mixed in. It's also a lowish fat topper for any fish (grilled salmon especially) and a wonderful pasta salad dressing (try it with cheese tortellini, cherry tomatoes, and diced orange peppers). If you're afraid of buying a big bunch of parsley, only to have it go bad, just brave with me and add it to everything. It keeps almost forever in a plastic bag in the fridge and makes a great vitamin rich and flavourful addition to any soup, pasta dish or salad that you're cooking up.

Tangy Green Goddess Dressing

Combine in a blender:
½ C. Mayonnaise
1 C. Plain Yogurt (low fat is fine and dandy) or Buttermilk
1 clove Garlic
1 large handful Parsley
3 T. Lemon juice
3 Green Onions
½ t. Freshly ground Black Pepper

Blend until smooth, adding salt to taste. Pour over any combination of greens and chopped raw vegetables. Any remaining can be refrigerated for up to two weeks for practically instant salads.

I just want to encourage you to add a salad to your meal at least once throughout the day (or to make it the main attraction!). A big bowl of fresh veggies with a dressing you love can really up your vegetable intake painlessly and deliciously. It can also help fill you up so you feel satisfied with smaller portions of more calorie dense foods, a good trick for lifelong healthy weight maintenance.