What Season Is It Again????

Last weekend it was autumn! I swear! Not that you could tell from the current weather! But since my southern butt prefers fall to winter ANY DAY, I’m still going to blog autumn inspired food. Ray was over for dinner on Saturday night and I had been to the farmers’ market that morning buying an unnatural amount of meat from Stillman at the Turkey Farm. However, that’s not all I purchased. I also found a bag of delicate lettuces that looked so good, I just couldn’t stop myself despite the pile of veggies already residing in my house. On the walk back up the hill to my house I decided since I had so many greens, I would make a giant autumn inspired salad with grilled chicken for my health conscious friend Ray! Who incidentally, lost about 15 pounds this summer. That’s right, go Ray! So before I ran into town to scoop him, I stopped at Whole Foods to pick up some of the other components for the salad. What I ended up with was really something!

Here’s the breakdown:

Varied Lettuces

*mine were all in one bag, but if you can’t find that, mix your own

2 handfuls arugula

2 red beets

*boiled until fork tender, peeled and sliced

2 chioggia beets

*raw and sliced

Goat cheese

1 handful dates, chopped

1 cup dried cherries

1 cup pecans, chopped

Fig balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

Fresh pepper

Mix the greens and arugula in a large bowl. Sprinkle dates, pecans and cherries on top, but focus most of them in the middle of the bowl. Line the bowl with red beets, Chioggia beets and crumbled goat cheese taking up 1/3 of the rim with each ingredient. Grind fresh pepper over top. For the dressing, I totally eyeballed it. Simple: fig balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Make as much as you want, but just know you need about 33% more oil than vinegar. But always taste it to make sure you like it before dumping it on your salad.

Now, if this salad is nothing else, it is BEAUTIFUL! I found it to be quite tasty, but even if you don’t, others might and it’s definitely something you’ll admire sitting out on the table until you toss it all together. It's almost too pretty to eat.....almost!

The chicken was marinated in a mix of spices and pomegranate juice, yes pomegranates are in season. But the real star was the salad. Ray also made an amazing pear dessert that I’ll blog as soon as he sends me the recipe…..cough cough RAY GET ON IT!!!

Cheers to fall...I mean winter...I don't knw what I mean. It'll probably be 80 degrees tomorrow!!!