Heart & Bowl: A fresher salad

Terms like "organic," "slow food" and "local" may seem like luxuries for foodies with co-ops around every corner, but enjoying this nutritious way of eating may be more accessible than you think.

Farmers markets in Brownsville and Harlingen are filling local refrigerators with heaps of fresh vegetables every Saturday. This locally grown, often pesticide-free produce is inexpensive. Plus, there’s the added bonus of one-on-one conversations with growers, who can tell you how to use their products in your kitchen.

If you’ve never tasted the genuinely juicy crunch of a carrot plucked straight from the earth, or watched the rich gold of an egg yolk drop into a frying pan from a freshly laid egg, then making it to the farmers market might not have much meaning to you. And hey, who can blame you? You don’t know what you’re missing.

A good salad – one that doesn’t hide behind creamy dressing – is a simple barometer of the difference between good and great vegetables. Vendors sell hearts of romaine lettuce and spicy salad greens, harvested just that day from their gardens. Carrots, radishes, scallions, kohl rabi and sprouts can all be washed and thrown into the salad bowl. Finish it off with a light dressing made from olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and some chopped up garlic and herbs, and you have a beautiful meal or side dish. You should be able to taste a clear difference between dried out lettuce and what you have in your bowl.

In fact, if you want to grow your own fresh salad, Debbie and Donny Cox sell lettuce plants at the market. Last week, I visited Debbie’s home where her garden provides all the fixings of a luscious salad. She has several different types of lettuce, from speckled red leaf to baby romaine, their green leaves growing gemlike in her vegetable garden. The sprouts of radishes peak above the soil, while eight varieties of tomato plants tower nearly at shoulder-height with Debbie.

Debbie never liked vegetables much as a girl, except for the tomatoes her father grew in their garden.

"I was a real picky eater when I was little. I went to a Catholic school where we had to finish all our food, so I would stuff my peas in my milk carton," she said. "But there’s a different flavor when you have fresh vegetables. You come outside, pick them, clean them and eat them. And it adds to the experience because you harvested it yourself."

Debbie says she understands the fast-food lifestyle. When you have kids, she reasons, it’s much easier to stick some chicken nuggets in their hand and go on with the day. But she worries children, too, have lost touch with nature.

"We have kids events here sometimes and there are kids who don’t want to touch the dirt," Debbie said. "You have to encourage them."

One of the most rewarding parts of selling plants at the market is not financial, Debbie says. It’s the experience of helping new gardeners.

"There are a lot of people who want to garden, they just don’t know how."

Debbie learned her gardening skills from the Master Gardening course offered by the Texas AgriLife Extension Office in San Benito. Those interested in the program can visit http://grovesite.com. The Brownsville Farmers’ Market is held every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Linear Park, in front of the Federal Courthouse and the Harlingen Farmers’ Market is at El Mercado Mall every Saturday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. This Saturday, Dec. 26, the Brownsville Farmers’ Market will be closed.

Farmers’ Market Salad

5 cups mixed lettuces, like romaine, boston, speckled troutback, frisee, arugula, red leaf, endive, radicchio, and red ruffled oak

½ cup sprouts, like alfalfa or mung bean.

4 radishes, scrubbed and cut into thin slices

4 medium sized carrots, washed and cut into thin slices

2 hard boiled eggs, quartered

1 large cucumber, peeled and cut into thin slices

Carefully wash and prepare all ingredients. Toss together in a large salad bowl. Serve with your favorite salad dressing.

There are also several ingredients you can add to any salad to make it into a meal:

Roasted vegetables: Thinly slice eggplant, zucchini, or bell peppers. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast at 400 degrees until tender, 8-12 minutes. Toss into salad while still slightly warm.

Beans: Rinse a can of garbanzo or kidney beans. Add half a cup to salad.

Cheese: Break up two ounces feta, goat, or Gorgonzola cheese and toss into salad. Alternately, roll 1 teaspoon of Gorgonzola cheese into a romaine leaf. Spray pan with Pam and fry for 1 minute, until lettuce wilts and cheese is melted. Add to top of salad.

Fruit: Cut an apple or ripe pear and toss into salad. Or, add two tablespoons of dried cranberries, dried cherries, or dried blueberries into the salad. This works especially well with Gorgonzola cheese.

Protein: Grill a fillet of fish, shrimp or strips of chicken. Place fillet in center of salad, or toss chicken strips or shrimp into salad.