Manitoba

Pulling up root vegetables for plating a fall salad

CBC Manitoba hosts live cooking demonstrations with downtown Winnipeg chefs at the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ farmers market every Thursday at 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. in August.

DIY fall salad by Nick's on Broadway at Downtown Farmers' Market

Chef Nick Graumann from Nick's on Broadway and host Nadia Kidwai, from the Weekend Morning Show on CBC Radio One 89.3 FM/990 AM, treated farmers market shoppers to a cooking demonstration. (Lindsay MacKenzie/CBC)

Vibrant colours fill Manitoba at this time of year — including in the fresh, locally grown produce that appears on dinner plates.

During the lunch hour on Thursday, chef Nick Graumann from Nick's on Broadway pulled out Manitoba root vegetables and ripened sunflower seeds to assemble a sweet and crunchy do-it-yourself salad recipe at the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ's farmers market.

Lead taste tester for Chef Graumann was CBC Manitoba's Nadia Kidwai, host of the Weekend Morning Show on CBC Radio One, 89.3 FM/990 AM​. 

When I was a kid we used to live near a sugar beet factory … beets would fall off the delivery truck and Mom had us pick them up. So I really liked beets from early on.- Nick Graumann, chef at Nick's on Broadway

Chef Graumann, along with three other chefs from downtown restaurants, teamed up with CBC Manitoba this August for CBC Cooks Local, a cooking demonstration series at the downtown Winnipeg farmers market.

Each Thursday, chefs taught shoppers how to prepare a variety of meals using locally grown ingredients that can be found from vendors at the market.

Beet salad recipe

Peach and poppy seed dressing drizzled atop honey-toasted seeds, market-fresh peaches, locally grown beets and greens.

Chef Nick Graumann prepares a beet salad drizzled with a peach and poppy seed dressing. The ingredients in this recipe are inspired by locally grown produce found in Manitoba. (Lindsay MacKenzie/CBC)

Things to find at the market:

  • Peaches.
  • Honey.
  • Mustard.
  • Beets.
  • Lettuce.
  • Seeds.
  • Quinoa.

Ingredients

Dressing:

  • 2 peaches, pitted and roughly chopped.
  • ¼ cup of vinegar.
  • 2 tbsp. mustard.
  • ½ tsp. poppy seeds.
  • 1 cup of canola oil.

Honey-toasted seeds:

  • ¼ cup sunflower seeds.
  • ¼ cup pumpkin seeds.
  • ¼ cup puffed quinoa.
  • 3 tbsp. local honey, heated until melted.
  • 2 tbsp. white sugar.
  • A pinch of salt.

Directions

Dressing

  1. Place all dressing ingredients in blender and blend on high while slowly adding the oil. 
  2. Season with salt and pepper.
  3. Cut pits out of peaches and roast in a parchment lined pan until tender and juicy.​

Honey-toasted seeds

  1. Mix all honey-toasted seed ingredients together until honey is evenly distributed.
  2. Bake at 325 F for 10 minutes. Stir halfway through the cook time.
  3. Seeds are done when their colour turns golden brown. 

Beets and peaches

  1. Place beets whole into parchment-lined roasting pan, coat in olive and and season. 
  2. Roast at 400 F for 30 minutes or until tender. 
  3. Let cool, peel, dice, and reserve.