The South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors resumed in September. I missed the first session as I was attending the Multicultural Community Kitchen in Gilmore Park Church. Unfortunately, the schedule collided again.

Michelle Li who facilitates this kitchen always briefs the group before the start of the cooking. In today’s kitchen, she talked about using what is local and in season. The reasons include:

• reduce carbon food print; did you know that the average ingredient in a North American meal travels 1.500 miles from farm to plate?
• support local farmers
• local food is more fresh and more tasty; i.e. they are not bred to last for the long distance travel
• fresh food is more flavourful and more nutritional; nutrients like Vit C, Vit A, etc loose quickly once the food is harvested
• local food tends to have less pesticides that food imported from third world countries
• eat food that is in season when they are peak in nutrients and when they are cheaper

In line with the theme of using local food and food in season, Michelle selected a beet and pear salad.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch beets, trimmed and washed
• 1/4 cup chopped natural hazelnuts (or sliced almonds)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 Asian or other pear, cored and julienned
• 3 cups greens (arugula, mache, mixed greens, etc)

Source: this recipe is adapted from epicurious.com

Instructions

Michelle demonstrated her way to clean vegetables during the briefing.She likes to cut the vegetables first before washing them in a big bowl of water. Let the vegetables sit in the water for a few minutes to let the grits to settle. Depending on how much grits found in the vegetable, wash them at least twice or three times. Spin dry with a salad spinner. If you do not have a salad spinner, you can drain the vegetables using a colander over a big bowl and pat dry with a kitchen towel.

Michelle roasted the beets the night before to save some time.Preheat the oven to 425F (400 for convection oven). To roast the beets, wrap the beets in aluminium foil and roast in the middle of the oven for 45 mins to 1 1/2 hours, depending on the size of the beets. Slip skins from beets and cut into 1/4″slices.

Roast the hazelnuts in oil in a small skillet over medium heat until golden.Let cool and remove with a slotted spoon and season with salt. Reserve the oil for the dressing.

To make the dressing, stir together the oil from roasting the hazelnuts, shallot, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, sugar and salt in a small bowl.

Combine greens, beets and pears in a bowl. Drizzle dressing over the salad. Top with toasted hazelnuts.