Prepare your heart, because I’m about to share with you a piece of mine: This. Spinach. Salad…for Dole National Salad Day.
Love is a decision, a commitment, and fearless. Love is inclusive, simple, and is real. And it never, ever fails.
So apparently, we make around two hundred and thirty decisions regarding food every day. (foodies and chefs, increase that number by a factor of 10 I’d say). And in a world where the prominence of meat and bread practically swamps us of thought, it takes some steadfast decision-making skills to choose, instead, the humble spinach.
Grazing grass is no fun. Nor is gnawing on leaves. I stick to the motto: Food should taste good. I stand by wholesomeness. I commit to both, and that’s not two-timing.
There is no blandness. All is bold. Kumquat vinegar adds brightness and spice, while the extra-virgin olive oil hugs and embraces with smoothness and clarity. The spinach is mellow and crisp, allowing the full, rounded tang of the goat cheese to rise. Finally, orange-and-black pepper-candied pecans add richness and cranberries with a corresponding sweetness and chew.
A bit of everything. Unadulterated.
True.
This salad never, ever fails.
Ingredients for the spinach salad:
4 cups tender spinach, washed and spun dry
1 1/2 tbsp kumquat vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
60 g soft unripened goat cheese, crumbled by hand
couple handfuls of dried cranberries
10 candied pecans, I used http://sahalesnacks.com/valdosta.aspx
To make the spinach salad, whisk together the vinegar and olive oil until emulsified and slightly thickened, season. Toss the spinach with the vinaigrette until the every leaf is coated. Divide among two salad plates, or bowls. Top with the goat cheese, cranberries, and pecans.
Voila! If you love goat cheese more, throw more in. I you’ve got a sweet tooth, up the cranberries. If you’re nuts for nuts, y all means, pile on those pecans, but above all else…
Enjoy!
coco et cocoa 