We find that spinach salad can be a polarizing dish. There are people who love them and those who only want their spinach sautéed or sandwiched between an English muffin and a poached egg. We tend to be in the latter camp, but several recent articles about the sweet, tender spring spinach showing up in farmers' markets is making us reconsider. Now really is the perfect time to eat some raw spinach...
Spring Eating: 7 Variations on a Spinach Salad
First there was an article in New York magazine about spinach from the Union Square greenmarket, and the recipe was a delicious departure from the traditional bacon-and-hard-boiled-egg topping that usually comes on spinach salads.
Gourmet also has an article on its home page right now about eating spring spinach. And given the temperamental moods of the weather lately, we think spinach salad is a nice transition from cool weather into spring. It's fresh but hearty, and many of these recipes include some sort of cooked or caramelized element.
Why not try a spinach salad...
• The traditional way, with a warm bacon dressing, from Alton Brown.
• With a garlicky dressing, pine nuts, and raisins, from Melissa Clark, via the Kitchn.
• With a vermouth vinaigrette, from White on Rice Couple.
• Mixed with diced potatoes and topped with a fried egg, from Everyday Food.
• With mushrooms and cipollini onions, from New York.
• Covered in a warm feta dressing (above), from Bon Appétit.
• Paired with wilted red cabbage, from Gourmet.
How do you like your spinach salad?
Related: Cultural Differences: Salad Before or After Dinner?
(Image: Tina Rupp for Bon Appétit)
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Recipe Roundup, Spring, Local - East Coast, Ingredients - Vegetables, salad, baby spinach, spinach saladRelated Links
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i pretty much only make salads with spinach...i like the flavor much better than other greens, and it's good for you! :)
one of my favorite salads using spinach also includes yellow pear tomatoes, grapes, raw walnuts, gorgonzola cheese (or another nice similar blue), & sliced raw carrots, topped with a simple basalmic vinagrette.
view bitsandbobbins's profile
I do my spinach salad with fresh baby spinach leaves, dried cranberries, crumbled goat cheese, and sweet & spicy pecans from Trader Joes, finished with a balsamic dressing. It was the starter salad at a charity event I went to a few years ago, and I've been addicted to the combination ever since.
view CorporateMonkey's profile
My boyfriend hates spinach, so I can't make spinach salad anymore. But I recently made a salad with arugula, caramelized onions, and goat cheese that I think would be just excellent with spinach.
view moderndomestic's profile
Spinach & strawberry salad is my favorite. Add some candied pecans, raspberry vinaigrette, & maybe a spinkle of dried blueberries and you'll have a salad so sweet it might as well be dessert.
Goat cheese & dried cherries are wonderful on spinach, too.
view Nougat's profile
Coporate Monkey: those sweet and spicy pecans from TJ's are ALWAYS part of my spinach salads. Yum. I then usually add whatever cheese I have, sliced strawberries, diced apples, and basalmic vinegar.
view cptmoll's profile
I make one kind of like AB's, but it's a Wolfgang Puck recipe from the Chicago Tribune maybe five years ago. Just fry up some bacon, remove and crumble, add a splash of vinegar and a sprinkle of sugar & salt to some of the bacon fat (2T), add an egg, either fried in some of the bacon fat or poached, and then put the egg and some of the dressing over the spinach with the bacon. Croutons are optional. The egg yolk and warm dressing run all over the spinach, and it is really delicious. It takes less than ten minutes, and the stats on the recipes says it's only 112 calories and 6.5 grams of fat! Don't forget some pepper over it too!
view Peggasus's profile
It's funny, last night I made a spinach salad. I topped it with some steamed asparagus, bacon, tomatoes, avocado, mandarin oranges, and some homemade balsamic dressing. It was VERY tasty.
view KerryC's profile
I will eat spinach in every shape or form and almost always have it on hand (even if it is out of season and purchased in the package). I'll have to try some of the recipes above.
view rosebud's profile
Best. Spinach. Salad. Ever.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spinach-Salad-with-Apples-Avocado-and-Bacon-104477
view brandemt's profile