Our New Favorite -- Spinach Salad with Shaved Fennel, Persimmon and Pepitas

It is not hard to tell that I am a big, big fan of farmer's market. But due to my long trip overseas and the recent snowstorms, I had missed all the fun since mid September! Yesterday was the last farmer's market of the year at Wooster Square and I simply had to go! Luckily the weather was extremely nice, around 50F and sunny, so I managed to drag D along, thinking that we could sample some cheese together and pick up a few for Christmas. And was he lucky to bump into an old friend, who currently works at a local bakery and gave us this huge slice of brioche topped with almond crumble -- heavenly!

The number of stands there did reduce quite a bit compared to the summer time, and the variety a bit lacking. We sampled a wide variety of cheese and ended up with some very tasty hard cheese. 

We also managed to get some nice looking root vegetables (carrots, kohlrabis, parsnips, beets) for a mere 2 dollars. I was happy to get an assortment of beets but oh how I miss the beet greens!

No worries, for the greens we have lots of fresh spinach still. Throwing in some baby boo choy and  baby chard épinards, we were all set for a great salad! It was so good that we had it for dinner, and on our open face breakfast sandwich,

and again together with for lamb stew as a side dish for lunch!

What's so great about it you may ask? Well, I can't put it to words -- you'll just have to try it out!

Spinach Salad with Shaved Fennel, Persimmon and Pepitas

makes 6 servings

• 4 cups salad greens (we used spinach, sometimes with baby bok chou and baby chard épinards added, but anything you like is game)
• 1/4 fennel bulb 
• 1/2 small onion 
• 1 small carrot
• 1 small parsnip
• 1 small purple kohlrabi
• 1 orange
• 1 persimmon
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup gorgonzola
• 1/4 cup pepitas
• balsamic vinaigrette (or your favorite) dressing

1. peel and slice the orange and the persimmon, and lay the slice on top of the bed of greens
2. thinly slice the fennel bulb, onion, carrot, parsnip and kohlrabi, and spread them on top of the orange and persimmon
3. sprinkle dried cranberries and gorgonzola
4. pour the salad dressing and toss to mix

Nutrition

The salad itself (without dressing) offers 178 Calories per serving, including 9 grams of protein and 6 grams of dietary fiber. It also provides 168% of your daily vitamin A, 100% vitamin C, 14% of calcium and 23% of iron. 

(This food is low in Cholesterol. It is also a good source of Folate, Magnesium and Manganese, and a very good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and Vitamin K according  http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/recipe/3007662/2?quantity=4.0&nc=1&autosave=form.info.autosave#ixzz2oEwMqCpO)

Cost

About $1.6 per serving (The whole bag of salad greens cost us $3 , and the root vegetables about $1. The orange was $2 for a bag of 8 and the persimmon was $1 each. Fennel was $2.5 per head. Cranberries, pepitas, and gorgonzola was $2 dollars. )