Rhubarb Salad with Goat Cheese

Small garden update, more to come later! Since we've had some cold weather lately, the tomatoes and peppers have slowed down, but that means the lettuce and peas are taking off! So far, just flowers on the peas, but we're hoping to see them start maturing here soon.

I've been dipping into our little garden patch we set up on the side of the yard, pulling off lettuce and spinach leaves here or there when needed to fill in for whatever dish I was making. This afternoon though, I went out to harvest quite the large bowl of spinach (go slow-bolting plants!), along with stopping by the rhubarb to pull out a few stalks.

Rhubarb and spinach? Together? You bet! We took both of them so we could take rhubarb in a slightly more savory direction with this Rhubarb Salad with Goat Cheese!

To shave the tartness off the rhubarb, we sliced the stalks into chunky pieces and tossed them with enough honey to coat just before they went into the oven. I would suggest trying to find stalks that are roughly the same size, while also being not too thick and fibrous to allow the pieces to cook evenly. It took less than 5 minutes in the hot oven for the rhubarb to go from firm to just tender enough that they were soft, yet still held their shape - you don't want them to turn mushy.

Since you don't want to work with pipping hot rhubarb, while it was cooling down, we made a clean dressing by whisking together olive oil with an equal amount of tangy white balsamic vinegar. If all you have is regular, dark balsamic, that would certainly be fine to us... the white is really used for aesthetic reasons, though it does feel a bit more sweet as well. With plenty of tender textures already happening between the rhubarb and spinach, the salad was aching for a crunchy contrast... which came in the form of thinly sliced fennel! Tossed together with the modest dressing, the salad was complete with a smattering of creamy goat cheese crumbles and a handful of toasted walnuts.

Delightful, with a notable spring influence, I was happily surprised how the licorice-y notes from the fennel playfully bounced off the tamed rhubarb to create an energizing salad that had us slowing down to savor each bite. If I had arugula around, its peppery quality would have been a nice compliment, but the homegrown spinach did the deed quite well on its own. I have to say, it is quite satisfying having only to walk out the back door, snapping fresh ingredients you need right off the plants, to complete a meal!

Recipes
Rhubarb Salad with Goat Cheese