Recipe: Fruity winter salad with maple-mustard vinaigrette
Persimmon and mandarin slices bring pop to this salad. Dried cherries and pecans add texture. Debbie Arrington
Orange-hued fruit – particularly mandarins and persimmons – take the place of tomatoes in my winter salads. They add sweet and juicy contrast to crunchy greens. Their cheery flavors and colors also brighten gloomy cold days.
This salad combines shaved Brussels sprouts and spinach with fuyu persimmon and mandarins. Dried cherries and chopped pecans add more flavor and crunch. Holding all these tastes and textures together is an equally flavorful maple-mustard vinaigrette.
For this salad, choose a round apple-like Fuyu persimmon (not a pointy Hachiya) that’s still relatively firm.
Fruity winter salad
Makes 2 large or 4 small servings
Ingredients:
1 cup Brussels sprouts, washed and trimmed
2 cups spinach, torn by hand
1 large Fuyu persimmon, cored and peeled
2 mandarins, peeled and separated into wedges
¼ cup dried cherries
¼ cup chopped pecans
For vinaigrette:
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
With a sharp knife or mandoline, slice Brussels sprouts into thin crosswise slices. Slice persimmon into thin wedges. Remove any seeds from mandarin wedges.
In a large bowl, combine shaved Brussels sprouts, torn spinach, sliced persimmon, mandarin wedges, dried cherries and chopped pecans.
Make vinaigrette. In a jar, combine all vinaigrette ingredients. Cover and shake.
Add vinaigrette to salad ingredients in large bowl. Toss gently and serve.
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Garden Checklist for week of May 5
Survey your garden after the May 4 rainstorm. Heavy rain and gusty winds can break the neck of large flowers such as roses. Also:
* Keep an eye on new transplants or seedlings; they could take a pounding from the rain.
* Watch out for powdery mildew. Warmth following moist conditions can cause this fungal disease to “bloom,” too. If you see a leaf that looks like it’s dusted with powdered sugar, snip it off.
* After the storm, start setting out tomato transplants, but wait on the peppers and eggplants (they want warmer nights). Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, radishes and squash.
* Plant onion sets.
* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias. Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.
* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.
* Don’t wait; plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
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