Wow.  My days of salad are starting to blend together.   My “100 Days” will be far more than 100 by the time I get to the number 100 in the blog entries.  This is mostly a function of salad redundance.   My goal is to inspire, not bore. 

So for this salad, the two exciting elements were the use of leftover quinoa– such a great source of protein and also texture–and preserved lemons, which I used to keep the quinoa from being too monotonous or bland–a common problem with grain and pasta salads, in my opinion.  In other words, I wanted to create a “warm salad bowl” experience but maintain vibrant flavor.  The dressing was a vinaigrette that also included some finely minced preserved lemons.  If you don’t have these in your fridge, I highly recommend making them and having them on hand.  They will light up your life and fill your nights with song.  The dressing and the quinoa transformed this potentially dull lunch salad into a hearty and zesty pleasure. 

There is no recipe, but take your basic salad, toss it with quinoa, and mix preserved lemon bits into a basic vinaigrette.  Make sure there’s a generous amount of salt in the dressing as well, to offset the grain.  Voila, you have added sass and gusto to your day.

I usually think of chard and kale as veggies to eat cooked, but Emerald City Salad has a special something, and I think it’s the rugged texture that the uncooked veggies have.   Seattle’s largest coop, Puget Consumer Coop, has an awesome deli, and Emerald City Salad is a standard you can usually find at one of the PCC locations in the (Emerald!) city. 

The ingredients are simple, flavorful, and hearty.  This is a list of the ingredients as found on the label on a to-go package from PCC.  

Emerald City Salad

Ingredients:

• Chard
• Kale
• (Cooked) wild rice
• Fennel
• Red peppers
• Lemon juice
• Canola oil
• Green onion
• Italian parsley
• Salt
• Garlic
• Black pepper

Today I judged at a swing dance competition, which took many (wonderful) hours. I was lucky enough to get a salad down the old gullet!  Not much to say about this salad, although it was tasty.  Greens, radishes, peppers, celery, avocado, and a bit of leftover Tabbouleh salad from Ballard Market.