Recipe of the Week: Strawberry and Spinach Salad
by Kelly Rossiter, Toronto on 06.22.07
I was excited to snap up the first Ontario strawberries in the farmer's market last week. I just cleaned them and left them in a bowl so that anyone walking by could pop one or two into their mouth. That's great when the berries are perfectly ripe and sweet, but I brought some home from my local grocery store the other day which were a little harder and a little more tart than I like. I decided to give this recipe for Strawberry and Spinach Salad a try.
The salad dressing softened the strawberries a bit and it turned out to be a tasty dish and quite refreshing after a hot day. I didn't have any spinach on hand so I used baby greens, which worked perfectly. I also used fresh raspberries in the dressing rather than frozen raspberry concentrate and toasted pine nuts rather than the almonds that the recipe calls for. I don't worry about substitutions; sometimes you just want to get on with it rather than running out to the market for that one ingredient that isn't in your pantry. This recipe is taken from Ultimate Foods for Ultimate Health by Liz Pearson and Mairlyn Smith.
Strawberry and Spinach Salad
8 cups baby spinach leaves
4 cups strawberries (about 24), sliced
1/2 cup almonds, chopped
Dressing
2tbsp plus 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp frozen raspberry concentrate, thawed
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1. Wash and dry the spinach.
2. Gently wash the strawberries and lay out on a cloth until dry
3. In a small bowl, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients
5. Toss everything together
Serves 4
One serving is 260 calories, 18 grams of total fat (2 grams saturated fat), 6 grams of fibre and 5 grams of protein.
