The thing about gardens is…..
You plant….. And wait.
You water….. And wait.
You hoe, weed, check for disease, check for bugs…. And wait.
And than, overnight, everything is ready…. All at once.
Even when you carefully stagger plantings, as I try to do, Mother Nature manages to manipulate the weather so that one day you're wondering if anything will ever produce edible food and the next day you're frantically trying to eat, freeze, preserve and give away more produce than the local market.
I do love my garden.
This is one of our favorite summertime salads.
The leaf lettuce bolted in the heat this week but we still have lots (and lots and lots) of Romaine.
The warm potatoes and sausages melt the creamy goat cheese, coating the
lettuce with a flavorful dressing.
Salad with Sausage, Potato and Chevre
4 – 6 sausages, 10oz total weight (300 gr)
2/3 carton chevre, 3.5oz (110gr) (goat's cheese – this is a soft cheese that comes in a little 4-sided pyramid shaped carton; my 'brand' is Chevraux, I think in the U.S. it's Chavrie
2 medium potatoes
1 tbs olive oil
Lettuce – enough for a main meal salad for 2
large handful of fresh basil leaves
2 tbs fresh, snipped chives
Pepper
Vinaigrette
Cook sausages – either on the barbecue grill or in a frying
pan on the cook top.
Tear lettuce and put in a large bowl. Snip chives. Tear large basil leaves, leave small ones whole. Add herbs to salad. Add 1/4 of the vinaigrette and toss to combine using tongs (or salad utensils). When sausages are done cut into bite size pieces and add to lettuce – they will be warm. When potatoes are done add to salad – again, warm is okay – not necessary, but okay. Add the chevre to the salad with a spoon – just in small chunks. Add about 1/3rd more of the dressing and toss well. As you toss the salad you will see the residual warmth from the sausage and potatoes combined with the dressing is causing the chevre to coat the lettuce leaves making a very creamy salad. Add more dressing as you like, using all of it or reserving some to be added at table. Fresh pepper is nice ….. serve.
Vinaigrette
1 clove garlic
1 tbs Dijon-style mustard
1 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs white wine tarragon vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil – the good stuff for salads, rather than the every day cooking variety
Mince garlic. Combine garlic, lemon juice, mustard and vinegar in bowl and whisk well. Slowly drizzle in olive oil whisking constantly so that the dressing emulsifies (gets thick).
In
addition
to
this,
for
the
week of July 9 we have Salmon with Dill Sauce, Caprese Salad, Savory Beef Kebabs, Salad with Grilled Chicken, Avocado and Peppers, Tomato Rice with Courgette….
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Ohhh yummm…some of my favorite ingredients! We too are having the same problem…I have more broccoli than I know what to do with – eating it every which way! I just love summer – it does not get any better than this! Ina
It looks delicious! I’ve never seen a salad with sausage and potatoes and I’m sure it’s delicious with that great vinaigrette! A must try!
Those pics of the potatoes and the sausage! Yum. I’m eyeing my jalapeno pepper plant every day and so far nothing. But usually, eight or nine will begin sprouting on the very same day and it feels like Christmas in my heart! – Gary
I feel exactly the same way about my garden too. Tried to grow basil and tomatoes to coincide, one never made (the basil…to cold this season), and the tomatoes will probably ripen next month! I love it!
Your potatoes and sausage make my tummy rummmmble … I’m deep into hungry!
In our case it’s too much zucchini (coregette) which is surprising so early in the season.
Love the salad…such a fantastic flavor combination!
Ina, all we eat is vegetables (almost) I love it too!
Pam, I’ll put anything in a salad – esp. this time of year LOL
Gary, it really is fascinating – nothing then everything! Jalapenos, eh?
Nirmala, and the tomatoes and lettuce don’t come at the same time either…. It’s a conspiracy!
Tanna, I do love good sausage… and covered in goat cheese…
Ellea, we also have too much zucchini… and chard
That’s not a salad for ladies who lunch, that’s an honest to goodness man salad!
Gardens are very temperamental fickle things in seems. Perhaps that is why I don’t have one.
I love this salad! I have been craving sausage lately.
We’ve been having Romaine salads a lot these past few weeks – but just with croutons and a simple vinaigrette.
I don’t know Neil. I love the thought of potatoes, sausage, goat cheese and Romaine lettuce salad. I’d be out of my mind with joy if that was served for lunch with “The Girls”!
Many thanks for this great idea, Katie.
Neil, mon mari agrees – it’s his favorite by a long way….
Joanne, every year I tell me that I won’t go through it again. Then spring comes and the urge to grow things….
Elizabeth, our Romaine bolted yesterday (I guess that’s why they call it ‘bolting’) It was the last of our lettuces…. so sad. But on to the green beans! I managed to make this twice so far…. sausages smothered in goat cheese = good!
Too bad about the Romaine bolting. But you have green beans galore now? I bet green beans would be a GREAT substitute for the Romaine in this salad.
(Mmmmm, green beans with summer savoury… do you have summer savoury growing? If not, you must plant some for next year. It’s not a perennial but it is self-seeding.)
We just had this for dinner tonight, Katie.
It. Was. Fantastic.
We really loved it. As soon as the photos are out of the camera, I’ll be sure to post about it. The only thing wrong with it was that we didn’t make enough to have second helpings.
Thank you for a fabulous new summer staple!
Elizabeth…. actually, just the sausages dipped in the goat cheese is pretty darn good – but I’d never do that… not whilst standing in the fridge, anyway….
Alas, we didn’t have any sausages left for faux second helpings. Luckily, the fresh cherry pie for dessert distracted us. (I MUST remember to post about this salad soon. It was so fabulous.) We’ll get some sausages at the market today. I’ll make sure to get extra so we can stand beside the fridge and dip them into goat cheese once the salad is all finished. (We’d never stand in front of the fridge – that’s just wrong to leave the door open in this heat!)