Farmer’s Market Salad
Baby root vegetables, peppery greens and juicy melon tossed with Marcona almonds and goat gouda for a dreamy summer salad!
Farm to table cooking is my favorite way to eat. Between my garden and amazing farmer’s markets around me, I find constant inspiration in an abundance of delicious plants. I wanted to create a salad that was a pure expression of locally grown goodness, which is found here in this Farmer’s Market Salad!
The Farmer’s Market Salad Ingredients:
This is a classic raw salad. Root vegetables like beets, carrots and radishes are so sweet and flavorful in their “baby” state. They combine beautifully with the peppery flavor of arugula and earthy fennel and endive. A simple dressing featuring white balsamic and local raw honey brings everything together in a simple toss.
Marcona Almonds from Spain are a plumper, sweeter, almost juicier version of the nuts than a California almond. They add a rich, buttery flavor and mouthfeel to dishes and baked goods. Marconas can be found raw, roasted or in oil and often seasoned with herbs like rosemary. In this salad the Marconas add a delightful crunch and richness to the vegetables.
Goat gouda is one of my FAVORITE cheeses and I use it frequently in recipes because of its unique “tang” and hints of caramelized milk. In this Farmer’s Market Salad, the cheese is brilliant with the beets and fennel and it adds a soft richness to balance the flavors.
My wine pairing choice for this dish is the Nicolas Potel Pouilly-Fuissé 2017. Pouilly-Fuissé is a dry white wine produced from Chardonnay grapes in the Mâconnais subregion of Burgundy in central France. I have a fondness for well-crafted wine from this area, due to the minerality and bright acidity that typically shows from the Chardonnay grown here. The sweet earthiness of the baby root vegetables combined with the anise flavors of the fennel and tarragon are a perfect foil to the minerality and lush golden fruits found in the wine. Honeydew brings out freshness and the marconas and gouda marry with the acidity.
Farmer’s Market Salad
Ingredients
- 1 small bulb fennel, halved, cored and thinly sliced
- 5-6 small colorful carrots, peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise
- 5-6 small golden or red beets, peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise
- 5-6 French breakfast or other radish, stems removed and thinly sliced
- 1 head Belgian endive, sliced into ¼-inch rounds
- 1 cup baby arugula leaves
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves
- ½ cup honeydew melon balls, halved
- ½ cup roughly chopped marcona almonds
- 4 ounces goat gouda, cut into 1-inch matchsticks
DRESSING:
- 2 tablespoons white balsamic or white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon raw honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the fennel, carrots, beets and radishes. Gently toss in endive, arugula and herbs.
- In a small bowl, whisk together all dressing ingredients, adding the olive oil at the end. Add enough dressing to the salad to coat and finish by tossing in melon, almonds and gouda. Serve immediately with Nicolas Potel Pouilly-Fuissé.
Notes
About the Ingredients:
- Having all veggies as fresh as possible is key for this recipe. Let the produce shine! Feel free to toss in whatever catches your eye at the market or is at its peak in your garden.
- I used a Honey Goat Gouda from Murray’s Cheese in this recipe. It had just the perfect amount of sweet/saltiness and tang.
- Trader Joe’s is my go-to shop for buying Marcona Almonds. I especially love the rosemary variety!
Suggested Wine Pairing:
- Nicolas Potel Pouilly-Fuissé 2017
