Ingredients:

• Beets
• Walnuts
• Apple
• Olive oil and vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Wrap each beet in a piece of tin foil and place on a baking sheet in the oven
3. After 50 minutes, test a beet by sliding a fork into it. If the fork does not easily slide in and out, cook for another 10 minutes and test them again until the fork pierces the beet with little to no effort, remove beets from oven
4. Once cool, open the foil, and use a paper towel to rub the skin off.
5. To make the salad, toss the beets with a quarter cup of roasted nuts and drizzle with vinegar and olive oil.
6. To compliment the dish, add fresh sliced apple as a side

I sure hope my beets do better next year, because this is one recipe I would definitely make again. I typically only utilize beets as a side dish, but I have a new found respect for them as the main ingredient to a nice salad. The combination of the sweet roasted beets and nuts reminded me of candied nuts. Very yummy! Thanks again to Cheap Beets for suggesting this recipe.

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This Homegrown Food Challenge recipe was suggested by Art and Lemons, in addition to their suggested recipe for Homemade Pasta with Butternut Squash and Fried Sage Leaves.

I used fresh kale as well as Swiss chard.

I sprinkled chives and parsley over the eggs for extra flavor.

The walnuts and dressing.

I was laughing at myself for putting black walnuts on my ingredients list. The ones I used were actually harvested 2 years ago, but I never got around to eating them, the main reason for that being that the shells are extremely difficult to crack. For these, I used a table vice and some vice grips, well above the average tools needed for liberating nut meats from their shells. It was a good exercise nonetheless so I at least know what I’m in for next time I want to eat some black walnut. If anybody has a better method of opening them, please share.

To Download a PDF of this recipe card, click here: Walnut Kale Salad with Fried Eggs and Toast

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It seems like each time I wander off into different ‘Zone 5′ areas on the outskirts of our farm, I find a new nut tree. So far, I have discovered Butternut, Black Walnut, Hickory and Hazel trees. In the past month, I began the process of researching different ways to harvest each type.

The Hickory and Hazel are the easiest. Their thick husks fall off on their own after they begin to dry out. Let them sit on the ground for a few days soaking up that morning dew and sitting in the sun and they are good to go. Your only enemy here is the squirrel, but be sure to let him have a small stash so he can make it through the winter.

The Black Walnut and Butternut offer a little more of a challenge. Not only are their outter husks sticky and difficult to remove, but they will dye anything they come in contact with. The best way I was able to remove this messy flesh was to roll each nut onto a slab of concrete until as much as possible comes off. Even then, the outter tar-like surrounding was still clinging to the nut. I’ve done all the Black Walnuts at this point. Leaving them out in the sun to dry helped to remove the remaining husk.

If anybody has additional ideas to help with the Butternuts, I’m all ears. I’ve heard some people talk about running over them with your car. Sounds very tedious…and these bad boys also stained the concrete where I rolled them with my boots. I switched to using a small square slab of concrete for that.

And also…what they say is true. ‘The nut doesn’t fall far from the tree’.

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