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We still have a month before the first day of spring, but this is the best description for something with peas in it.  We brought this dish to a community potluck honoring our local farmers and it was gone before we made it through the line (sorry no photo of the final dish).  I’ve made many variations to suit the season and what we have on hand.  For this rendition, we used shiitake mushrooms, leeks, and spinach from a recent Eugene Local Foods order and frozen peas from last year’s harvest.  To keep it local, we used whole grain bread from Eugene City Bakery.

If you are wondering about our bread for this week - I am planning to bake cornmeal bread tomorrow afternoon and will hopefully have something to tell you about later in the week.

Our garden plans are making some progress as well.  We have the order ready for our fruit trees and I just placed a seed order from Seed Savers Exchange tonight.  I have some peas leftover from last year and hope to get them in the ground later this week or early next week.  To our delight, the broccoli raab, turnips, and kale have made a comeback after being almost completely wiped out by cutworms in November.  It looks like we will have some to enjoy in the next month or so.

Almost spring panzanella, adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

For bread

1/4 cup olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 loaf day old bread, cut into 1 inch cubes

6 Tbsp shredded parmesan

Salt and pepper

For vinaigrette

Half of a red onion, diced finely

2-1/2 Tbsp wine vinegar (red or white)

Juice of 1/2 of a lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

For salad

4 leeks, cut in half lengthwise

4 cups spinach, rinsed and torn into bite size pieces

1/2 lb shiitake mushrooms, sliced

2 cups peas, cooked until just done

1/2 cup shredded parmesan

Preheat the oven to 400F.  Toss bread cubes with olive oil, parmesan, and garlic.  Spread on a baking sheet and bake until just browned, about 15 minutes.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, pan fry the leeks in olive oil until browned on both sides, 6-8 minutes.  Slice into 1/4″ slices when done and set aside.  Add mushrooms to the pan and cook until softened, 5-6 minutes.  Add a little olive oil if necessary.

Make the vinaigrette by first completely mixing the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, and onion together.  Whisk olive oil in slowly.

All ingredients can be prepared ahead of time, but wait until just before serving to mix the entire salad together.  First mix the bread and vegetables together.  Add the vinaigrette and toss with salt and pepper.  Lastly, add the shredded parmesan.

Tags: Dark Days Challenge, salad, Vegetables - cool weather