or…. they eat flowers, don’t they?

I do, for sure.

In fact, at this time of year, when our homegrown onions are sprouty and bound for the compost heap, I get antsy for all things allium.  I’m starting to panic a little.  I’ve even gotten to the point where I ration the few onions I have left.

I have this issue with BUYING vegetables that are 1) not local and 2) inferior to what we grow here in the fertile valley known as “the Black Dirt region”.

That’s not to say that I don’t buy produce in the off-season.  I do.  I’m just very particular about what I buy.  I would rather ‘make do’ and creatively use what’s growing on premises than buy veggies of unknown origin.  I KNOW a dish is going to be phenomenal with MY ingredients.

But I’m stuck, especially when certain things don’t like our soil and despite trying for years,  we cannot grow sweet potatoes with success.  Black Dirt is composed of over 95% organic matter (like a giant valley of compost) and sweet ‘taters prefer sandier soil.

We ain’t got that.

So, I buy sweet potatoes.

But I didn’t have to buy onions for this salad because the CHIVES ARE IN BLOOM!  You have no idea how exciting this is.  I admit, I rarely use the green chives – I pull apart the blossom and sprinkle the tiny flowers on everything, anywhere I want an onion flavor.

This salad came about when I made The Boy a big batch of sweet potato fries.  I wanted a salad (truly and honestly!) and those hot, salty sweet potato nuggets were calling to me.  I raided the fridge and came up with a sweet red pepper, spring mix (any lettuce will do) and a wedge of blue cheese.

This blue cheese dressing  from David Lebovitz is a good, standard dressing, but in a pinch Marie and I have an agreement.  I won’t tell if she won’t.  But if I were to tell?  Her chunky blue cheese dressing thinned with milk or water is just fine to use on this salad.

It’s spring, and on a vegetable farm, that means the non-stop summer is almost upon us.  Every seed that was started in our greenhouses will eventually be planted out into the 55-acre fields somewhere and they’ll produce an abundance of veggies (and weeds right alongside) that will need our attention from now until the snow flies.

So, yeah.  I use store-bought dressing sometimes.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Blue Cheese Salad with Chive Blossoms
I actually roast sweet potato cubes specifically for this salad, but by all means use leftover if you have some lying around.  I would let them come to room temperature before making the salad, though.
Assemble on dinner plates:
Salad greens, your choice
Red Pepper, sliced thinly
Chive Blossoms, pulled apart into little flowers, generous amounts
Sweet Potato cubes or batons, roasted with olive oil and salt
Blue Cheese dressing
Blue Cheese for crumbling on top

It’s a salad.  Don’t make it complicated, just enjoy it!