Warm Barley Salad with Kielbasa

Warm Barley Salad with Kielbasa
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Salads can be a tough sell in the winter.  The weather is depressing so cozy comfort food is all we really want. And “cozy” doesn’t generally apply to a salad. And the ingredients required for a salad? Well, let’s just say there’s a reason winter produce isn’t particularly celebrated. But if your definition of the word “salad” is lenient, and it really should be because “salad” is a surprisingly broad term, you can in fact make a cozy salad. And today’s Warm Barley Salad happens to be a prime example of that fact.

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Char Sui Back Ribs with Crushed Peanuts

Char Sui Back Ribs with Crushed Peanuts
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It’s happened. I saw my first back-to-school ad this week and it immediately inspired dread. While I haven’t attended school in, erm, quite some time, I still feel joy at the end of June and sadness when September hits. That’s some solid childhood programming right there. And every year I feel indignant when people lament the end of summer when the season is barely over a month old. We wait for summer all year here in Canada, let’s not hasten it out the door, shall we? So in an effort to keep the good times rolling, I give you the most summer-friendly food I can think of – pork back ribs, Char Sui Back Ribs to be exact.

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Prosciutto and Brie Panzanella with Cornichons

Prosciutto and Brie Panzanella with Cornichon
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Spring has finally arrived in earnest. And in true Ontarian fashion, we’ve skipped spring and have gone straight to summer. Well, not quite. I’m sure we’ll take a quick dip back into depressing temperatures before summer truly arrives. But for the time being, my fellow Torontonians and I are enjoying plus 20°C weather as only sun-starved Canadians can. Pouring ourselves onto packed patios in deeply seasonally-confused outfits. As for me, this surprisingly hospitable weather has inspired some intense salad cravings. I know, not what you’ve come to expect from me. To be fair, I’m craving salads like today’s Prosciutto and Brie Panzanella, so I’m not completely off-brand here.

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Chorizo Kale Salad with Fingerling Potatoes

Chorizo Kale Salad with Fingerling Potatoes
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Salads rarely inspire backflips. At least that is my experience. I know there are people who adore salads and I am so happy for them. But I am sadly not one of them. But I do believe in the virtues of frequently munching on leafy greens. So when my body starts screaming for spinach and/or kale, I keep my tastebuds happy by adding a hefty dose of either cheese, nuts, meats, or carbs. I rarely put all four into a single salad because that sort of defeats the purpose of having a salad. But in the case of today’s Chorizo Kale Salad with Fingerling Potatoes I pulled meat and potatoes off of the bench and unsurprisingly they took the baby kale base to a whole new level. The chimichurri dressing certainly didn’t hurt either.

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