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In the Kitchen: April

A meal sized salad entirely from local ingredients available at the bakery

I’ll address the elephant in the room first, blue cheese is a polarizing ingredient. I get it. Last month we started selling Blue Ledge Farm’s “Middlebury Blue” and part of the reason I chose this recipe for April is that I really think more people should try it. However, if you can’t bring yourself to do the blue, switch to another less pungent cheese we sell. Feta, Chèvre or even Blue Ledge’s camambrie would all work.

 What makes this salad really work is that oven roasted sweet potatoes with their caramel sweetness, play off the sharp flavor of blue cheese, rich smokey bacon and all of it is broken up by plenty of acidity from the dressing and bright freshness of a mountain of salad greens

 

Serves 3 – 4

Ingredients

Items with an * are available here at the bakery! (which is all of them this time)

  • 2 bags of Steppingstone Commons salad greens*
  • 2 # Sweet potatoes cubed*
  • 1 pack of bacon*
  • 1 wedge of blue cheese* (or other)

For the dressing: (any good, simple vinaigrette will do, but if you’re starting from scratch…)

  • 1/2 c olive oil*
  • 2 Tb cider vinegar*
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard*
  • 1 small glug maple syrup*
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  • Roast sweet potato and bacon
    • If you’re really organized and not in a rush, cook your bacon first, either in the oven or the stovetop, whole pieces first and then chopped into chunks, or chunked and then cooked. The rendered fat works great to toss your sweet potatoes in. If you’re in a rush or prefer olive oil, discard bacon fat and use olive oil on the potatoes.
    • Cube sweet potato, drizzle with fat of choice, season with salt and pepper.
    • Spread on a baking sheet and place in the oven to roast.
    • Roast until tender and starting to color.
  • Assembly
    • Crumble or cube the cheese of choice.
    • The only real challenge with this meal is to assemble in such a way that you don’t bury the salad greens under loads of toppings. This takes some forethought and technique.
    • I prefer to compose plates individually rather than in one big bowl.
    • Start with a scattering of the heavy elements, follow with greens and then more of the heavy stuff.
    • Finally dress with vinaigrette and dig in.
  • Next month maybe time for a baking project or at least a dessert, but thanks for reading!

ENJOY!