Chef’s Corner 

Article by Mitch Samples

Good morning everyone, going to keep things short today and offer this amazing spinach salad and roasted beet recipe with blueberry vinaigrette recipe today, using blueberries from Altar Cross Farms out of Ivanhoe, NC.  It’s an easy and nutritious recipe made mostly with items you can get at the Cary Downtown Farmers Market.

On a quick side note, now that we are all cooking more at home please contact me with any questions or thoughts you might have about cooking techniques, ingredient substitutions, or repurposing leftovers to make a new meal.  I hope to address these in future newsletters and want to talk about things that are relevant to you.  Have a joyful week!

Spinach Salad with beets and Blueberry Vinaigrette

serves 4

3/4 cup neutral flavored vegetable oil or light olive oil

½ C Fresh Blueberries – https://altarcrossfarms.com/

2 Tbs Cider Vinegar

2 Tbs Balsamic Vinegar

2 Tbs Honey

1 tsp kosher salt

2 Medium Beets, Roasted – Parker Farm and Vineyards

8 oz spinach – Parker Farm and Vineyards

¼ Cup toasted nuts, chopped, (Pecans, pistachios, or black walnuts)

¼ Cup Feta, diced – Paradox Farm Creamery

Procedure:

• Wash the beet, wrap them in foil and roast them, whole in a 400-degree oven until you can easily pierce them with a skewer. This will take about 30 minutes to an hour depending on the size of your beets.  Remove them from the oven and allow to cool.

While the beets are roasting:

• Make the vinaigrette by placing the first 6 ingredients together in a blender and pureeing them until a nice creamy texture is achieved. Alternatively, you can put them in a bowl and puree with an immersion blender.  This will make about 16 oz of dressing.
• Prepare the remaining ingredients and place them in a large bowl.
• When the beets have cooled to room temperature, remove the foil, carefully peel them and dice them into ½ inch pieces.
• Place the beets into the bowl with the other ingredients, add about 3 ounces of dressing and toss well to coat everything nicely. Use more or less dressing according to your preference.
• Turn the salad out onto 4 plates, making sure every plate has an even distribution of all the ingredients. Much of them may have settled in the bottom of the bowl after tossing so just scoop them out and distribute evenly among the plates.

If you have any questions, please contact Mitch at mtsamples@gmail.com.  I am here for you.

https://www.caryfarmersmarket.com/