Lightening up with veggies from the garden
Post Author: Charlotte MartoryMany of us feel the urge to lighten our menus a bit after the big Thanksgiving blowout of last week. Kind of get things under control a bit, if you know what I mean, as we head into the rest of the holiday season. As the indulgence of last week looms around our waistlines, it can seem a daunting task at first. But if you try to eat with the seasons, and if you’re lucky enough to have a fall garden coming into full swing, it’s really not all that hard to do. Cooler temperatures and lower humidity translate into good times for salad greens, cole crops such as broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts, root vegetables, and all manner of greens. Just what we need to help us get back on track and provide our bodies with the vitamins and minerals needed to fortify us through the winter months ahead.
My husband and I are newish to vegetable gardening and this year, our second attempt at a fall garden, has really surprised us. Without the screaming heat of the South Louisiana summer to contend with, even sporadic watering goes a long way. When the temperatures cooled off last week with the first near-frost, the haphazardly sown seeds dug down deep and really took off. Surprisingly, and seemingly overnight, we have lettuces gone wild (bronze arrow, rouge de grenobloise, arugula, mizuna, and red russian kale, to name a few), enough mustard greens to feed a small army, lacinato kale standing up like brave soldiers, radishes, beets, swiss chard, several heavily-laden volunteer tomato plants, and one very lonely (but still producing!) volunteer cucumber vine. We’ve decided that we like this fall gardening stuff!
So earlier this week, when searching for a way to round out a meal of roasted wild ducks from one of Paul’s hunting ventures, a trip out back to the garden filled in the blanks. One lonely remaining jar of fig mostarda from a late summer canning venture called to me from the fridge, too, and found its way into an existing balsamic vinaigrette. Before you know it, the ducks were accompanied by a beautiful salad of mixed greens drizzled with fig vinaigrette, just enough cheese to make us think we were indulging, and a few toasted nuts for texture. Something rich and indulgent would also have been awesome with those ducks, (think rice and gravy, creamy polenta), but, as my boss would say, “oh, baby”, eating light never tasted so good!I didn’t really take notes when putting that fig vinaigrette together, but here is a simple fig vinaigrette recipe that we developed with Emeril for his upcoming sandwich cookbook that will be out next fall. If it sounds tempting to you, I suggest you try it with whatever type of fig preserves you have on hand, and feel free to adjust the balance by adding more vinegar or oil to taste. This vinaigrette works well with all sorts of roasted meats: duck, pork, chicken, and is nice on salads with salty cheeses such as feta, gorgonzola, or roquefort.
- 4 tablespoons fig preserves (chop if whole figs)
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
- Pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper
- In a small bowl, combine the fig preserves and the balsamic vinegar. Whisk in the grapeseed oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Yield: about 1 cup


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