Salads Suck! Well they don’t really suck, but when put against something like a hot piece of pizza with spicy meat, crispy, thin crust, and gooey, and melty cheese fresh out of a 500 degree oven and dipped in…
Wait, I was talking about salad. Let’s face it, we can’t eat pizza everyday and getting a healthy dose of greens is one of those things I keep being told is vital to, you know, living. I really do enjoy a good salad, but I know even healthy eaters will admit that you can really only love salad to a point, and if we are going to eat salad; it has to be great. This salad hits all the right notes with lightly wilted spinach, creamy hard-boiled eggs, crunchy pine nuts, bacon,and more. It is super satisfying and a quick fix for a weeknight meal. When the pizza place is calling; put down the phone and pick up the spinach.
Ingredients
8C. Baby Spinach
3-4 Hard-boiled Eggs
3 Pieces of bacon (Fried, reserve bacon grease)
1/4 Red Onion
1/4 C. Crumbled Feta
1/4 C. Dried Cranberries and Golden Raisins (Dried Cherries and Appricots are also very good)
2 Tbsp. Pine Nuts
2 Cloves Garlic
2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
Salt and Pepper
Aged Balsamic to drizzle
Instructions
- When I plan a salad for dinner; I start by making sure all of by ingredients are washed, chopped, and prepped in whatever way they need to be.
- Hard-boil the eggs by placing eggs into pot and cover with cool water. Bring to a rolling boil and set the timer for 10 minutes. Drain and run cool water over the cooked eggs to stop cooking. Peel and set aside. I like to serve them slightly warm. If you prefer them cold, then make earlier in the day and refrigerate.
- Slice bacon into small pieces and fry. Remove the cooked bacon and place on paper towels to soak up any extra grease. Reserve the bacon grease in the pan for later.
- I usually buy pre-washed spinach to speed along the prep. Measure spinach into a large mixing bowl.
- Slice your red onion. Measure out your dried fruit, pine nuts, and feta cheese and set ingredient aside.
- Warm your bacon grease until it gets hot again. Turn off they heat. Mince garlic and add to hot bacon grease along with red vinegar to make a warm vinaigrette to dress the spinach.
- Pour vinaigrette over spinach and toss. The spinach should wilt ever so slightly and have a nice sheen.
- To Build your salad, lay down two cups of greens and the center of a salad plate. Slice an egg and lay it along the side of the plate. Sprinkle bacon, pine nuts, feta, dried fruit, and sliced onion over the top of the greens. Finish with cracked pepper and a sprinkle of salt (if you like extra). Drizzle aged balsamic over the top and enjoy.
“I’m strong to the finich, cause I eats me spinach. I’m Popeye the Sailer Man.”
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