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FrontRangeLiving.com -> Cooking -> Winter Salads
 WINTER SALADS:
CHICORIES AND LETTUCES COMBINE WITH WINTER PEARS AND FIGS
By Niki Hayden
Lyons farmer Lyle Davis sits in his kitchen facing the
fields outside. Rows and rows of slumbering peonies look like upended brush
bristles, the stalks cut to the ground. They’ll wake by May, when
seventeen acres of flowers and vegetable plants return to full production. On a
bright, not too cold Colorado day, you can almost hear the lettuce growing—the
tiny sword-shaped leaves standing at attention. But it’s only the imagination
at work. Winter is locked in and the leaves of foxglove and sweet William
lie hunched, hugging the earth.
"It’s not just the cold," Davis says about the short growing
season in Colorado, "but also a matter of the light." Winter is an
enforced rest for farmers, but not one that is always enjoyed. "Come the
first of January," he says with enthusiasm, "we’ll start planting
seeds in the greenhouse."
 Davis supplies organic produce from his Lyons farm, Pastures of Plenty, to
Front Range farmers markets and to his own catering service. Gardening is more a
labor of love, he says, rather than a lucrative enterprise. Catering pays better
than market farming. But he wouldn’t love food so much if he didn’t grow it
himself. That’s just a family trait.
"My mother was born in Italy and grew up in Paris. We always had kitchen
gardens and I grew up with a Mediterranean kitchen garden mentality. Then I
spent 12 years traveling on and off. I’d sample the foods in the markets of
places like Algiers or Greece and ask who were the best cooks. Sometimes I’d
get invited into the homes. Or, with the very shy Bedouins, I’d give money to
the kids and ask them to bring back a pot of couscous," he says. Traveling
formed the backbone of his menus today, which tout fresh, seasonal produce with
a Mediterranean emphasis.
 GREENS
A DEPENDABLE LONG SEASON CROP
Flowers are an important cash crop, as are heirloom vegetables. But ask Lyle
just what grows most successfully for the longest season in his garden, and
there’s only one answer: greens. As an organic farmer, Lyle works with, rather
than against, nature. This year, he’ll avoid planting mustard greens, or
anything in the brassica family until after the arrival of the flea beetle.
Too often in the past, the beetles wiped out his lush brassica greens. This
year he’ll start with lettuce, spinach, chard, baby Romaine and mesclun
lettuces during the cool spring. Flea beetles disappear with the first hot
spell. That’s when he’ll turn to planting the brassica family of arugula and
mustard greens.
He’ll have a greens harvest from May to October. Even in the heat of
summer, ample water and a slightly cooler microclimate allows his Lyons farm to
harvest lettuce. A thin blanket of snow in October wipes out nearly everything
except greens. Long after other gardens have peaked: "My biggest greens
sale is in August, when I’ll have 50 to 60 crates to market," he says.
To supplement the greens, he’ll add old-fashioned cottage garden flowers:
giant sunflowers, cosmos, delphinium, larkspur, sweet William and Canterbury
bells. Romano beans and heirloom root crops, like beets and turnips, or
brilliantly hued peppers and eggplants round out the summer.
"I love fresh ingredients. Recently I’ve been grilling young fennel,
then adding white wine and sea scallops. People should pay attention to the
quality of their ingredients—food is so undervalued in America when we put
price before quality," he says.
ANCIENT BUT NOT FOUND IN THE WILD
 Lettuces and chicories are two of the last crops to surrender to freezes and
one of the first to sprout in a cold, damp spring. That makes them ideal for
growing in cold greenhouse conditions, or outside in the garden after March 15.
Only spinach has the jump on them. Like spinach, they’ll bolt in hot weather
and turn tough and leathery. But the long, cool spring and fall temperatures in
Colorado ensure a bountiful harvest for months.
Chicories and lettuces fall into the sunflower family, a vast group that
includes artichokes, tarragon and dandelions. Oddly, though, you won’t find
lettuces in the wild, even though many are heirloom plants hundreds of years
old. Botanists suspect that lettuces originated from kale-like plants that grew
along the seacoasts of many continents. They eventually cross-pollinated in the
small plots of household gardens.
Romaine lettuce dates back to Roman times and may have come from Turkey. The
crisp leaves have changed little since ancient cuisine. Perhaps that explains
its somewhat drought-tolerant characteristics, setting it apart. Most lettuces and chicories
prefer moist soil that is richly composted. Although it takes longer for romaine
to grow to maturity, it will remain robust even if the soil dries out a bit.
GROWING
LETTUCES AND CHICORIES
 The major difference between chicories and lettuces is the degree of
bitterness. Chicories add a bite to a salad, like radicchio, frisée, endive and
escarole. Lettuces are mild. Beyond that, their planting and growing
characteristics are the same. The seeds need some light to germinate, so
gardeners simply ruffle the soil around the seed rows so that light can
penetrate. Many lettuces and chicories will grow in very light shade, which
provides them shelter from a hot summer sun, but they will need at least six
hours of bright sun each day.
Lettuces are divided into a loose leaf, the black seeded Simpson and butterhead lettuce, like Bib. Loose-leaf heads can be harvested one leaf at a
time to extend the duration of harvest. Head lettuces like iceberg or crisphead
are harvested at once. There are hundreds of lettuces to choose from when
you plant a garden. The reason why only a few are available in stores has to do
with storage. Few lettuces will keep well, so salad aficionados collect greens
the day they are to be served.
That’s what has made mesclun mixes so popular lately. Mesclun mixes are a
selection of loose leaf lettuces like oak leaf and Simpson that can be harvested
when young. Some mixes also contain arugula, beet, mizuna or dandelion seeds to
accompany the mild lettuces. Traditionally, mesclun mixtures in France are the
young new spring leaves of any greens that appear: chervil, arugula, curly
endive and lettuces. These are the first greens to poke through the soil after
a long winter. The Italians call their harvest misticanza, which contain
mostly chicory leaves.
 Recipes:
Winter Lettuces with Pears and Pomegranate Seeds
- One handful of washed lettuces, buttercrunch is a favorite here
- One handful of watercress leaves
- One slice of jicama, peeled and slivered
- One stalk of celery, with strings removed and sliced thinly
- One pear, peeled and sliced in half
- One handful of pomegranate seeds
- ½ cup of roasted walnuts with honey (instructions below)
- Several slivers of Parmesan cheese
Wash and dry all greens. Roast the walnuts with about 3 tablespoons of honey
drizzled over in a 350-degree oven for 8 minutes or until just toasted.
Assemble the lettuce leaves first, then strew about the watercress. Add all
other ingredients. Fill the pear cores with pomegranate seeds. Serve with
dressing below.
Dressing: 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, tangerine
or fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle on the salad just before
serving.
 Winter Chicories with Figs and Blue Cheese
- One handful of frisée chicory
- Several leaves of radicchio leaves
- One handful of watercress
- One stalk of celery, strings removed and sliced thinly
- ½ cup of roasted walnuts or pistachios with honey (see directions above)
- 5 small figs sliced in half
- One slice of jicama, peeled and slivered
- Several wedges of blue cheese, crumbled
Dressing: (same as above)
Belgian Endive Leaves Stuffed
Belgian Endive leaves are perfect to stash small, individual portions. Stuff
them with a Waldorf salad of chopped apples, walnuts, celery--bound together
with a little mayonnaise or sour cream and a squirt of lemon.
Or, try Stilton or blue cheese with walnuts in the centers. For an appetizer,
place a slice of avocado with a piece of cooked, chilled lobster or crab and a
squirt of lemon or tangerine juice.
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