Pea Shoot and Kumquat Salad

On a week night, I wanted a quick dinner option and delivery wasn't going to be one

I opened my fridge for a "fast food" idea. In front of me: plenty of pea shoots and sunflower sprouts, and a spiced duck breast from the Farmers Market. Microgreens have become a staple at our home. I now pack them in my kid's lunch box (they get snacked on by his friends too :)) and regularly use them in salads. The spiced duck breast has also become a regular (when there is still some left at our vendor's!). I was going to throw them together in a salad when I recalled we also had some kumquats, and decided duck+kumquats should be a great pairing. 

The salad is a pretty simple affair: the kumquats are thinly sliced, mixed together with the shoots and sprouts as well as some thinly sliced garlic chives. How much of each depends on your hunger and tastes but I had a good 4 hands full of the micro greens, sliced about 10 kumquats, and used about 2 tbsp of the thinly sliced garlic chives. To season the salad: a quick vinaigrette with rice vinegar, a dash of lemon juice, maple syrup, a bit of mustard, oil and salt+pepper. All that remains to be done is to slice the duck breast (or not if not available or desired), serve it alongside the salad, season well with salt and pepper, and eat. 5'. Fast food.

By the way:

  • We are lucky to have a great producer at the Berkeley Farmers MarketLifefoodgardens who offers all possible shoots and sprouts. If you are in the Bay Area, they may be at your market too. (NY'ers have the ever great Union Square Market and other green markets for supplies) 
  • The pairing of the sweet/sour kumquats with the duck, combined with the freshness and sweetness of the shoots worked great. Kid approved.