Warm Balsamic Bok Choy Salad

All those food magazines near the grocery store checkout registers are my undoing.  I can't resist. But once I buy them I so rarely try any of the recipes. That's why as much as possible I use the self checkouts.

But some stores just don't have them as was the case on a recent grocery run. Of course my eyes zeroed in on a Canadian Living magazine called Fresh and Tasty Salads. Every page was drool worthy. It quickly ended up in my cart.

Today I was getting ready to head out for a big grocery shop and thought I'd give it a quick look. It was Friday night and I was just going to have hot dogs, so thought I would spruce up supper with a unique salad. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky and the temps warm, so this fairly simple salad with grilled bok choy called me.  Plus look at that picture.

The recipe worked beautifully - easy to make, clear instructions and the recipe came together quickly. The only snag I had was I tried to rush making the warm dressing while my husband grilled the Bok Choy and cooked it on too high a temp for too long. I ended up caramelizing the maple syrup. So instead of a drizzle I had glops that hardened as they cooled.  I might have died if it was for company, but as it was just a Friday home meal, no worries - it still tasted amazing.

The piece de resistance was when my husband who's a total "it's just food" kind of guy commented that he really liked it. He rarely comments on food other than to say thanks for cooking. Well done whoever created this recipe. And I hope if any of you try it you also love it.

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Warm Balsamic Bok Choy Salad
Says it serves 6, but that would be fairly small servings. I would say 4 or 5 max, but I like generous servings of salad.

Ingredients - 

1/2        Med. Onion chopped
1/4 C    Pure Maple Syrup
1/4 C    Balsamic vinegar
1           Clove garlic sliced (I diced it)
1           Sprig rosemary (had basil balsamic vinegar so omitted this)
8           Heads shanghai bok choy halved
1 T       Olive Oil
1/4 tsp  Salt
1/2 C    Crumbled goat cheese (I found crumbled herb goat cheese for extra flavour)
1/4 C    Pumpkin seed toasted (usually in the serve yourself bins at the grocery store)

Directions - 

In small saucepan, cook onion, maple syrup, vinegar, garlic and rosemary over medium-high heat until syrupy and reduced by half, about 12 minutes. Strain through fine-mesh sieve. Be careful as the maple syrup is a sugar and as I learned the hard way, it can caramelize. So err on the side of caution - especially on how hot you cook it at.

In a large bowl, toss together bok choy, oil and salt. Place on greased grill or grill pan over medium-high heat; grill, turning occasionally, until grill-marked, about 5 minutes. 

Transfer to serving plate. Sprinkle with goat cheese. Drizzle with maple syrup mixture. Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds.