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 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 salad to something you’ll love to eat.
You just heat up a little vinegar and sugar in the microwave and add 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. With the remaining sweetened vinegar you’ll add oil and seasonings to make a simple vinaigrette dressing to pour over the salad. Add some toasted almonds on top 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.
The original recipe called for toasting the poppy seeds, but honestly I couldn’t detect any difference so I’ve left that step out. However, I like to toast the almonds before adding them as you get a more intense flavor with roasting and a little more crunch. To toast nuts, I just put them in a pie 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.
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.
Get to the farmer’s market early or they’ll run out of strawberries!
Adapted from Cook’s Country April/May 2017
PrintStrawberry Spinach Salad
Strawberries and fresh spinach make a great salad, but it’s even better when you add pickled onions and romaine to the mix. This strawberry spinach salad will be your new favorite.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
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
- 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
Instructions
1.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.
2.Whisk oil, mustard, poppy seeds, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper into the remaining vinegar mixture.
3.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.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6
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