Roasted Pear Salad with a Shallot Vinaigrette and Red Chard and Spicy Sausage Quiche

A few weeks ago Full Circle Farm  contacted me and asked if I’d like to sample a month’s worth of their produce.  I’m a huge fan of local, CSA farms and I felt honored they asked me to give them a try.  So I signed up, cruised their user-friendly website and marked my calendar for our first delivery.

I woke up to a delicious surprise Tuesday morning.  My Full Circle Farm produce box was waiting patiently for me on my front porch.  Exciting! Actually, I’m not sure who was more excited, me or Ranger Craig.  He loves his veggies.

Brilliantly colored Red Chard, bright green pears, pink firm apples, a perfect looking buttercup squash, fingerling potatoes, bright red radishes, crisp celery, sweet baby spinach, green leaf lettuce, organic Satsumas and a giant red beet.  I couldn’t wait to dig in.

The pears and the spinach were calling my name, so a roasted pear salad was on the menu last night for dinner.  Added a little of my fave bleu cheese, some toasted walnuts and a divine little shallot vinaigrette and the evening became blissfully delicious.

I decided the Bennett Crew needed a little something more than just the salad, although I was completely satisfied with my big bowl of deliciousness.  Browsing my produce stash again, the brilliantly colored red chard caught my eye. A red chard and spicy sausage quiche would make a snappy little dish to go with my roasted pear salad.

So it’s a two for one today! So much goodness I had to post these two recipes together.

Thanks so much to Full Circle Farms for sharing a months worth of produce with the Bennett Crew.  I’m completely impressed with the produce, the user friendly website, options for ordering my produce, home delivery and pick up options, and a lovely little artisan grocery page for yummy extras.  Local, fresh, organic, high quality, seasonal and convenient.

Full Circle Farms now delivers to much of the Northwest.  If you don’t live within their delivery area, I highly recommend exploring CSA farms in your local area.  It’s a great way to boost our local economies, help others in our communities and provide our families with healthy, high quality produce.  I even purchase my eggs farm fresh.  They’re less expensive than purchasing at the local market, not to mention delicious.

If you have little ones, there are many CSA farms in the U.S. that give the option of harvesting your own produce.  We did this when my two sassy gals were little and it was a blast.  It was so much fun to show them how a farm works, how food grows and my little gal loved getting her hands dirty.  My oldest gal just wanted to play with the pigs.

Delicious Wishes to you all during this most beautiful holiday season!

Loads of Love,

Karista

Roasted Pear Salad with Baby Spinach, Bleu Cheese, Toasted Walnuts tossed in a Shallot Vinaigrette

Serves 3-4

For the Salad:

5-6 ounces fresh baby spinach

2 pears, sliced

1 – 1/4 cups crumbled bleu cheese (I adore Rogue Creamery Bleu Cheese)

1/3 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

Salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Shallot Vinaigrette

1 shallot, finely diced (about 2 tablespoons)

1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Whisk together all the shallot vinaigrette ingredients and set aside.

Pre-heat the oven to 400F.  Toss the pears in a drizzle of oil (to keep them from sticking) and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  I like them crisp tender, but if they are super ripe before baking they will be soft.  They will still taste yummy.

When the pears are done, toss the vinaigrette with the spinach.

Plate the spinach on individual plates or one large platter or bowl.  Top with the warm pears, bleu cheese and toasted chopped walnuts.  Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt and serve.   Salad recipe adapted from multiple sources

Red Chard and Spicy Sausage Quiche

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 bunch red, rainbow or Swiss chard, chopped (just leaves, save the hard stems for a soup or stock)

1 onion, diced

2 tablespoons grapeseed, coconut, safflower or sunflower oil

1 lb spicy Italian sausage (I used spicy chicken sausage)

4 eggs

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional, for extra zing!)

1 cup Swiss or Emmental Cheese, shredded

1 prepared deep dish pie crust (I use a gluten-free crust from Wheatless in Seattle. The pie crust isn’t deep enough so I take it out of the pie tin and put it in my deep dish pie plate.  It works great!)

Directions

Pre-heat the oven to 350F.

Add a tablespoon of oil to a saute pan or skillet over medium heat.  Saute the onions until wilted and then add the chopped chard.  The chard will wilt like spinach.  Season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and then transfer to a bowl.

Add another tablespoon of oil to the saute pan or skillet over medium high heat and brown the sausage.  When the sausage is cooked through, drain the fat and place the crumbled sausage in the prepared pie crust.

Top the crumbled sausage with the chard and onions, and then the shredded cheese.

Whisk together the eggs, cream, salt, pepper and basil.  Pour over the shredded cheese.

Bake the quiche for about 45 minutes to one hour or until its done and the top is nicely browned.  Let the quiche cool for about 10 minutes before slicing.

Recipe from Karista’s Kitchen