04 May 2011

Pushing the Season on Strawberries ...

Silent Bob is disgusted with me, but I just could not help it! We had his aunt and cousin dropping in for a lunch date at the grey cottage and I was looking for a nice salad to go with a quiche that I'd made ... I saw strawberries in the market from way far away ... they were so red and shiny and I wanted them so badly! I closed my eyes and popped them into the basket! Home again, home again - jiggity jig and soon there was a pretty spinach and strawberry salad sitting on the table waiting for the quiche to come out of the oven.


Strawberry Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

1- 10 oz. bag of baby spinach greens, washed, stems trimmed, and spun out in a salad spinner
1 pint strawberries, rinsed, drained, stemmed, and sliced into thin strips
1/2 c. purple onion strips
1/2 c. chopped pecans, toasted
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. raspberry vinegar
1/3 c. light olive oil
1 tbsp. poppy seeds

Making the Salad:

1. Lay the prepared spinach greens into a large salad bowl.

2. Top with the onions and strawberries.

3. Sprinkle the pecans over all.

4. Combine the sugar, mustard, salt, and vinegar in the bowl of a food processor and whirl to combine.

5. With the processor running, drizzle in the olive oil and whirl to form an emulsion dressing.

6. Add the poppy seeds and pulse to combine, being careful not to pulverize the seeds.

7. Drizzle just a bit over the salad and place the rest of the dressing in a bowl to serve on the side for those wanting more sweet tanginess.

8. Cover closely if the salad will sit for a bit before serving.


We managed to eat most of the salad, but there's one plate left that I will be knoshing for an afternoon snack ... what is it with me and guilty pleasures and the color red lately ! ?






12 comments:

  1. This looks beautiful, Susan! What perfect spring salad!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This looks awesome! What a great summer dish and so easy too!

    Thanks for sharing!

    Holly

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's really interesting, putting strawberries with leaves. I want to try it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ Xinmei - It's a wonderful combination - astringency of spinach leaves with tangy sweetness of berries and a little bite from the onions ... yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So you bought trucked-in strawberries and lightening didn't strike you? What I want to know is if SB ate any of the salad. I have been buying them from the store and then a friend's mom was able to bring me me 3 flats of divine Arkansas berries that blew all the others out of the water. Yeah for the start of summer fruit!

    ReplyDelete
  6. @ Audra - He was polite and ate the salad with minimal berries in his portion. We chowed the rest of them and there WAS no lightning strike! But ... can't wait for our own backyard berries to come up to the kitchen!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Why would anyone be disgusted with you for making such a lovely salad? This looks delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think the salad looks delicious - I love strawberies!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Delicious salad! I love strawberries and they are so juicy right now. The best ones will be our locally grown in June though. Can't wait.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a beautiful spring time salad. I thought it was weird when I first heard about this salad, but the combination of spinach and strawberries are so delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  11. But were they delicious?! I hope so. I'm fangin for a strawberry hit, and I'll get one on my trip to Berlin in July- the best strawberries I've ever eaten- pink red and soft fleshed, with a fragrant hit of strawberry flavour that made me realise I'd never really tasted them before...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Can't believe I missed some of your posts Susan! This salad looks exceptional. I would never have thought of using strawbs with spinach but it's genius! And looks so pretty too x

    ReplyDelete

Anonymous comments will not be accepted. Please be aware that due to spamming concerns, I must be able to track back. Use your Google account ID to comment.