Tag: Spinach

wilted spinach salad with olives & garlic-balsamic vinaigrette

onion mint spinach olives salads feta salad greens pine nuts

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This is a great recipe any time of year. It makes a meal with just the addition of a couple of slices of bread—and I have to say that I’m quite fond of our kalamata olive bread with this salad, echoing the olives in the salad. If you want to heat the whole loaf up (rather than just toasting individual pieces), put the unwrapped loaf in the oven at about 350 degrees for 15 minutes or so, and you’ll have a crusty crust and a hot, moist interior, even if the bread’s been thawed from the freezer.

So, about the salad--you can heat up the vinaigrette and toss the spinach in it right before serving, so the spinach is wilted just enough to soften the leaves a bit. This is great for spinach that is fairly robust. But if you have very tender little spinach leaves, you don’t need to heat the dressing--just use it cold, and it’ll wilt the leaves anyway. There are several ingredients that I feel are optional in this salad—it’s great even if you’re missing lots of them. Although this salad is fantastic if you have mint, it’s still great without it. I also generally omit the feta. I think that the salad is rich and crunchy enough without the pine nuts (because of the red peppers), although it’s very yummy with the nuts, as well. I’ve also made the salad without the red peppers—just with the red onions and olives, and it’s still tasty! The photo at right is of the salad with the mint, olives, and onions, and I used toasted almonds instead of pine nuts! So just go with whatever you have, and be fearless about buying large quantities of spinach!

I make a pretty large batch of this vinaigrette because I like to use it for a couple of meals, but if you think it’ll be too much, you can halve the recipe. The recipe is based on one from rebar modern food.

vinaigrette

6 garlic cloves, chopped coarsely
½ cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon cracked pepper
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

In a blender jar, combine all the ingredients except the oil. Puree until completely smooth. Slowly add the oil while the blender is running. Taste, and add salt, honey, and/or mustard to taste.

salad

1 pound spinach leaves, washed and stemmed
¼ cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
1 red pepper, seeded and julienned
½ red onion, halved and cut into very thin half-moon slices
¼ cup chopped mint (optional, but very nice if you have it)
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted in a skillet (optional)
½ cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)

1. Put the sliced onions in a small bowl, and pour a cup or so of boiling water over them. Let them sit for about 30 seconds, then drain the water off. (This takes some of the spicy acid edge off the onions, but will still leave them crunchy and flavorful.)
2. Combine the spinach, olives, peppers, and onions in a large salad bowl.
3. Just before serving, if your spinach leaves are fairly thick and a little bit tough, heat ½ to ¾ cup of the dressing—as much as you think you’ll need—over medium heat in a small skillet. When it begins to simmer, remove from the heat and drizzle over the salad, then toss well to combine and wilt the spinach slightly. Heat and add more if you like it saucier. If your spinach is very tender, just use the dressing cold or at room temperature.
4. Gently mix in the fresh mint, and if you’re using the nuts and feta cheese, sprinkle them over the top. Serve immediately with slices of bread or toast, if you like.

spinach salad with hazelnuts and rosemary-balsamic vinaigrette

onion spinach salads rosemary hazelnuts salad greens bleu cheese

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Here’s an easy salad with really bright, pungent flavors that will inspire you to eat lots of greens! It’s based on a recipe from rebar modern food, one of my favorite cookbooks for salads. You don’t have to use spinach for this salad—lettuce or baby greens work great, too!

This salad tastes fantastic with toast made from our walnut bread or our toasted seed bread. Or you can follow the rosemary theme and use our rosemary bread! Or you can just use regular 100% whole wheat sourdough levain. Whichever bread you decide on, you can use it to sop up extra dressing. I think the salad is plenty delicious without the blue cheese, but it is a very nice addition. I love this salad with the lentil soup, or the tomato soup, or almost any soup, really.

vinaigrette

2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 teaspoons red wine vinegar
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
½ teaspoon cracked pepper
2-4 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, picked off their stems
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1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Put all the ingredients except the oil in the jar of a blender. Whirl everything until it is completely smooth—this might take a little while because of the rosemary. Slowly pour in the oil as the motor is running to make a smooth sauce. Adjust salt and honey to taste.

salad

10 ounces spinach leaves, or a large head of lettuce, or a bowlful of mixed baby greens
½ small red onion, cut in half and sliced very thinly
¼-½ cup hazelnuts
½ cup blue cheese (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roast the hazelnuts until golden-brown and fragrant, about 15 minutes. After the nuts are toasted, you can rub off some of the loose skins in a kitchen towel if you want, but they won’t come completely clean—that’s OK. Chop the hazelnuts coarsely.
2. Put the sliced onions in a bowl and cover them with boiling water for 30 seconds. Drain them and set aside.
3. Just before serving, place the greens and onion in a large salad bowl. If your spinach is mature and rather toothsome, serve this salad as a wilted spinach salad: gently heat the vinaigrette in a small skillet until it starts to simmer, and drizzle as much as you’d like over the salad. Toss well. If you’re using tender young spinach, or other salad greens, just drizzle the dressing on cold and toss well.
4. Sprinkle with nuts and cheese (if using), and serve with toast.

spinach salad with garlic-roasted oyster mushrooms

mustard mushrooms spinach salads dressing garlic oil olive oil roasted garlic

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I made this salad with two different dressings—first with a balsamic dressing, and then the next day, with my garlicky mustard dressing. I preferred the mustard dressing because it is a little milder, and didn’t overpower the delicate flavor of the roasted mushrooms. If you want, you could add some toasted pine nuts, as well, but I loved it just with a big pile of mushrooms.  You can toss the mushrooms in the roasted garlic oil, or just use the simpler version with raw garlic (both recipes are included, below). If you already have the garlic oil and mustard dressing in the ‘fridge (I almost always do.), this recipe is very quick to make. I make it a habit never to run out of that mustard dressing. You can even freeze pint jars of the dressing if you want to make a double batch. (I always do.)

salad

large bowl of spinach leaves
garlicky mustard red wine vinaigrette (recipe follows)
roasted mushrooms (recipe follows)
toasted pine nuts (optional--toast them in a small skillet over medium heat until golden brown)

1. Toss the spinach with vinaigrette to your taste.
2. Scoop the dressed spinach into individual bowls. Top each bowl with roasted mushrooms and a sprinkle of pine nuts, if desired.

garlicky mustard red wine vinaigrette

6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 medium cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
1 tablespoon honey
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½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Put first 5 ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Slowly pour in oil to make a creamy emulsion. Taste and season with more salt and/or honey.

roasted mushrooms

1 pound oyster mushrooms (or other mushrooms)
2 tablespoons garlic oil (either of the two versions, below)
¼ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and coat a heavy rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Slice the mushrooms into ½-inch slices, cutting off the ends of any particularly large stems.
3. Toss the mushroom slices with the the oil and salt and spread out in a single layer on the baking sheet. If they don’t fit in a single layer, use an additional baking sheet, because they will steam instead of roast if they aren’t directly on the sheet.
4. Roast for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and flip them all around with a spatula. If they are brown and crispy in places, and completely tender, they are done, but if not, continue roasting until browned and perfect. (See the photograph on the website if you like.)

olive oil infused with roasted garlic

several heads of garlic, cloves peeled
olive oil (you don’t need extra-virgin olive oil for this—the garlic imparts so much flavor that you can use regular olive oil)

1. Put all the whole peeled garlic cloves in a heavy pot. Cover the garlic cloves completely with olive oil.
2. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Give the garlic a stir, and then turn the heat down to the absolute lowest possible heat, cover the pot, and simmer just at a bare bubble. Stir the garlic occasionally and continue to cook until the garlic cloves are completely soft and tender, and you can easily squish them against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. This will probably take an hour or more, but check after 45 minutes.
3. Uncover the pot and let cool. Strain the garlic from the oil. This garlic can be used in any recipe that calls for roasted garlic (for example, in the Southwest Caesar Salad, or in the Hummus in the cookbook or on the website). If you make a soup or a stew that needs a little extra pizzaz, just scoop out a few cloves, mash them with a fork, and add them to your dish to really pump up the flavor. You can freeze the garlic indefinitely (I keep it in pint-sized canning jars in the freezer), and just take it out when you need it.

garlic oil

3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1. Mash or mince the garlic cloves and cover with the olive oil. Let steep for 30 minutes if you have time.
2. Strain out the garlic and store the oil in the refrigerator.

wine-braised lentils over toast with greens

carrots chard spinach lentils greens toast toppings red wine

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This might sound like an unusual combination, but it is fantastic. It’s based on a recipe from Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen. You can use the toasted seed or levain loaves from Rise & Shine Bakery for toast, but if you use the toasted walnut oil in the recipe, the toasted walnut bread is spectacular!

I like to use the little French green lentils (sometimes they are called lentile du puy). They stay more intact than the regular brown lentils, which is kind of important in this dish, since you’re putting them on toast, not just cooking them into a soup. It’s a completely different texture than the brown lentils you may be more familiar with.

This recipe makes more lentils than you’ll need for one meal, but they are so good you’ll be glad for the leftovers. They freeze really well, too—just freeze the lentils before adding the greens. As with all bean recipes, this tastes even better if you make it the day before, or in the morning, so the flavors have time to develop.

1 ½ cups small green lentils, rinsed
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
6 garlic cloves, crushed or minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2-3 cups dry red wine
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
sea salt and freshly-ground pepper
2 bunches of chard or spinach, washed and stemmed
1 tablespoon toasted walnut oil (I like Loriva brand), extra-virgin olive oil, or butter
-------------------------------------------------------
slices of sturdy whole-grain bread
1 clove garlic, peeled

1. Parboil the lentils for 5 minutes and drain.
2. Heat olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot. Add the diced vegetables and 1 teaspoon salt, and cook over medium-high heat for several minutes, until starting to brown. Add the crushed garlic, mash the tomato paste into the vegetables, then pour in the wine and stir in the mustard. Add 3 cups water, the drained lentils, and 1 more teaspoon salt. Simmer, covered, until the lentils are quite tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Season to taste with salt. Lentils can use quite a bit of salt, so don’t be afraid to keep tasting and adding salt until you’ve got the balance just right.
3. Wilt the spinach in a skillet in the water clinging to its leaves. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, stir as many cooked greens as you’d like into the portion of lentils that you’ll be eating right away, and add the oil or butter.
4. Toast the bread until nice and crunchy, and rub it with the whole garlic clove. Put each piece of toast on a plate and spoon the lentils and greens over the toast.