Menus from an Orchard Table

Oh this entry was a long time coming! I’d meant to share it with you before I headed out on a business trip a couple weeks ago, and I lost the draft on the way to the airport!

Anyhow, here it is, and it’s another good ‘un!

I made this as part of one of our semi-regular market brunches. Market Brunch you ask? Yes! We hit the farmer’s market that sets up only a block away on Sunday mornings, pick up whatever looks good, and come home to make brunch. It’s lovely – you should try it!

The spiced bread ingredients aren’t from the market, but since baking it the day before is recommended, it lends itself to an easy mixing of the cheese-spread and toasting of the slices just before brunch. Though fair warning: you may want to lay off the mimosas until after you’ve toasted your croutons under the broiler, unless you want to go through most of the loaf before you get un-burnt pieces (luckily it makes lots extra).

My favourite thing about this dish is how it’s another fine example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. The earthy spices with the rich cheese and the bright onion & lemon and the peppery picked-that-morning radishes. Absolutely divine.

This recipe also lent itself well to a few substitutions I made:

The goat cheese is mixed with milk to soften it. I used 1% instead of whole – it didn’t suffer.

I happened to have scallions on hand, and chopped the light-green bit of those quite fine instead of getting chives

The bread called for powdered anise – I used crushed fennel for a similar licorice flavour. We’re not big “licorice” people, so I generally only ever have one licorice-ish spice around at a time.

The recipe suggests French Breakfast Radishes. I used an assortment of different radishes from the market – no complaints about the variety!

And check out my quenelles! Easier than I thought they’d be to make, you simply scoop a creamy substance from one spoon to another until they resemble the classic boat shape. So pretty, so tasty!

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Pain d’Épice Croutons with Goat Cheese and Radishes – page 161

I am not a salad person. And yet, Heidi Noble’s “Art of the Green Salad” is the recipe (served to me by a friend) that was the catalyst for buying this book. That does not speak to a sudden affection for salads, but the remarkability of that particular salad.

It was really the dressing that won me over. I didn’t think I could enjoy a salad more than I enjoyed that particular salad. And then comes this recipe, where we get the same concept (fresh, seasonal greens), the same dressing, and add the amazing goodness of blue cheese, honeycomb and hazelnuts!

It blew my freakin’ mind.

Neil and I have been experimenting with new food sources lately, trying to focus on the provenance of what we’re eating, re-connecting with what’s seasonal and getting as close to the producer as possible. We’ve joined a CSA for the first time to get the bulk of our veggies for the season, and it’s leafy-greens time. We are awash in salad greens.

Specifically this week it was spinach, komatsuna, baby red-romaine, mizuna and mesclun mix of other baby greens, which is a perfect mix for this salad.

The rest of the ingredients came from the local farmer’s market, which has also just kicked off its season.

New for me in this salad experience was the addition of honeycomb. Noble mentions in the book that the salad was always a hit at Joie, not least because of its novelty – most people hadn’t had it before. It was fantastically delicious. Eating honeycomb is a bit hard to describe, but if you’ve ever had Dutch Stroopwafel, it’s like the best, freshest, gooiest version of that. Not quite as sickly sweet as eating straight honey, melt-in-your mouth and absolutely decadent.

As I continue to build my own relationship with salads (since with the CSA it’s learn to love salads right now, or learn to love adding significantly to the compost heap) I’ve discovered that I adore salads if they’ve got cheese and nuts in them. So this salad, with its hazelnuts and blue cheese is already poised to be a favourite. The amazing trifecta of that, plus the fantastic dressing, and then the unexpected decadence of the honeycomb put it over the top.

I’m over the moon.

If you’re already a lover of rabbit foods, you may not be quite so smitten. But if you need a bit of convincing of the merits of a green salad, try this one. If it doesn’t win you over, I’ll eat my hat. And your salad.

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Gathered Greens Topped With Fresh Honeycomb, Blue Cheese and Toasted Hazelnuts – page 158