Cooking web notes

Warm Spinach Salad

I love warm salads such as wilted lettuce salads and this recipe is along that line, only this one contains nutritious spinach. 

In the summertime, Dad would pick the lettuce and Mom made her wilted salad most nights.  I loved the taste of it; the hot bacon drippings with vinegar and a little sugar tossed with the lettuce and onions.  That was the best of salads back then.

Now, I have moved on and love it with spinach also.  This salad is filled with good things:  lots of bacon, red onion and pecans with a tangy dressing.  Especially, in the winter time when spinach is plentiful, this is an excellent way to incorporate fresh winter greens into your dinner menu. 

With heating the spinach somewhat, it serves a dual purpose:  it makes the salad more suitable for a cold day when raw lettuce might not be appealing and it diminishes the effects of oxalic acid. Spinach is rich in oxalic acid ~ that is what gives spinach the tang but, it interferes with the body’s ability to absorb calcium and iron.  The acid is much higher in raw spinach. 

This is a rich, colorful and flavorful salad and if you are a bacon lover like I am, that’s all the better!  I hope you give this a try!

Warm Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

½ cup pecan halves

6 slices bacon, cut into 1” pieces

1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced

1 pint (2 cups) grape tomatoes

1/3 cup white vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

2 to 3 bunches (1½ pounds total) flat-leaf spinach, trimmed, cleaned and dried

Coarse salt and pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spread pecans on a baking sheet and toast in oven until golden and fragrant, 10 to 15 minutes.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp.

Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

Pour off all but 3 tablespoons of fat from skillet.

Add onion to skillet. Cook until crisp-tender, 5 to 7 minutes.

Add tomatoes, vinegar and sugar.

Simmer until liquid thickens slightly and tomatoes are heated through, 1-2 minutes.

Place spinach in a bowl and pour hot tomato-onion mixture over it.

Toss quickly to coat and wilt spinach.

Season with salt and pepper.

Sprinkle with reserved pecans and bacon.

Serves 4

Yum!!!  So delicious!!!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 6:20 AM and is filed under Bacon, Onions, Pecans, Salad dressings/Vinaigrettes, Salads, Spinach, Tomatoes, Vegetables. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response.