One Local Summer, Week 6, 2008

I was out of town for most of the week, eating at hotels and restuarants.  Although I did stop by a local winery to pick up some white wines as I was running low.  Upon coming home I found it hot and after many heavy meals I wasn't feeling overly hungry but I did manage to make a wonderful local salad.  I picked up my vegetables at Food Matters and there sitting on top of the crate was a head of fennel.  It had me thinking of one of my favorite spring salads.  But strawberry season is long past here in Virginia.  Then when I picked up my vegetables from Olin Fox farms I had the answer for a light salad meal...the last of the spring lettuce as we enter the hottest months of the summer and blackberries.  I made a few changes and a few substitutions and this is what I came up with:

Salad with Fennel and Blackberries  (Serves 4 with extra dressing)

• 2 cups blackberries
• 3 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp orange juice
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1tsp dijon mustard
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 6 cups torn Romain lettuce
• 3/4 cup sliced fennel
• 2 cups black berries
• 1/2 cup feta cheese

Mix first 9 ingredients in a food processor, mix until the dressing has a smooth consistancy.  (If it seems to watery you may want to add more blackberries.)  Serve lettuce and fennel topped with 1/2 cup of berries and sprinkle with feta.  Serve with blackberry dressing.

While the orange juice isn't local it was fresh squeezed by Joseph at the local farmers' market.  I am looking forward to meals this week not that the summer trifecta have shown up in my CSA boxes:  eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers