The cold weather didn’t destroy all of the strawberries in our area so it’s the perfect time to grab some fresh strawberries and combine them with baby spinach for a great tasting strawberry spinach salad. What makes this recipe just a bit more interesting is the red onions that are soaked in part of the dressing. The onions and romaine lettuce update this traditional spinach salad to something you’ll love to eat.
How do you make an interesting spinach salad
Step 1: Heat up a little vinegar and sugar in the microwave and add part of the warm mixture to sliced red onions. The onions will soak up the dressing for 30 minutes or so. When added to the salad, the pickled onions add a great punch.
Step 2: With the remaining sweetened vinegar you’ll add oil and seasonings to make a simple vinaigrette dressing to pour over a mixture of spinach and romaine.
Step 3: Add some toasted almonds on top along with some fresh strawberries and you have a beautiful fresh salad for dinner or maybe it will be warm enough to have a cook-out this weekend. It looks like the warmer weather is finally coming to the Carolinas.
What’s the best way to toast almonds
By toasting the almonds before adding them to the salad you get a more intense flavor and a little more crunch. It will take the dressing longer to make them soggy if they’re toasted. To toast almonds, just put them in a metal pan in the toaster oven and stand right there watching to keep them from burning.
Don’t get distracted, I set a timer just in case. You can also toast them on the stove but I prefer the toaster oven. It will only take about two minutes.
Sometimes spinach salad can have a weird texture because the spinach leaves stick to each other when you add dressing, they can feel a little slimy. Adding a mixture of greens makes for a more interesting salad, romaine works perfect. It’s still great if you just use spinach.
Looking for more summertime salads
- Corn and blueberries are a great combination
- Try a honey lime dressing on fresh fruit
- Fruit salad with a spicy dressing is awesome
- Fresh corn and cucumbers are a great combination
- Grilled peaches on mozzarella is amazing
- Zoodles with tomatoes
- Classic roasted potato salad
Not sure what to do with extra STRAWBERRIES
- Pastry berry braid
- Strawberry crostini
- Strawberry pie
- Strawberry layer cake
- Strawberry pretzel salad
Adapted from Cook’s Country April/May 2017
Spinach and Strawberry Salad
Ingredients
- ½ cup red wine vinegar
- ⅓ cup sugar
- salt and pepper
- ½ red onion sliced very thin
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- ½ cup sliced almonds Toasted
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 lb strawberries 2 1/2 cups sliced
- 6 ounces romaine lettuce hearts torn into bite size pieces
- 6 ounces baby spinach
Instructions
- Whisk the vinegar, sugar and 3/4 teaspoon salt together. Place 1/4 cup in a microwave safe bowl and microwave about 1 minute. Add onions, stir and let sit for 30 minutes.
- Whisk oil, mustard, poppy seeds, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper into the remaining vinegar mixture.
- In a large bowl, combine lettuce, spinach, almonds and strawberries. Remove onions from vinegar mixture with a fork and add to the salad. Pour dressing over the salad and season with salt and pepper. Top with additional almonds.
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