Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Spinach, strawberries, almonds and feta...

I visited my brother few weeks back for a completely carefree vacation in Washington state where organic baby spinach and strawberries were in season! I know these are not in season in Lebanon right now, but I find it hard not to share this recipe especially that it's super easy to make, it's absolutely refreshing and I've been meaning to try it ever since I saw a similar salad up on Foodess.

What you need to have:

For the salad
  • 150 grams baby spinach, rinsed, dried and cut into bite-size pieces
  • 150 grams strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced
  • 75 grams almonds - roasted, unsalted and chopped
  • 100 grams feta cheese, crumbled or diced
Fro the dressing (all Jazmin's idea, and it fits the strawberry spinach blend perfectly!)
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp mustard, whole grain Dijon
  • 1 lemon, juice with pulp
  • 1 clove of garlic, finely grated
  • 1 small shallot, finely grated
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1/2 tsp of black pepper

What you gotta do:
  • Mix the spinach and the strawberries together. Set them aside while you prepare the dressing.
  • Then whisk all the dressing's ingredients altogether. I actually shook them inside a tightly closed jar, so they turned out pretty creamy and well blended.
  • Drizzle the dressing on top of the salad and mix.
    Make sure not to add the dressing, unless everyone is prepared to start eating as the white vinegar will wilt the spinach if left for a long time.
  • Sprinkle the chopped roasted almonds and the crumbled feta on top of the salad, and please be generous. If you tend to be stingy, set aside 2 tiny bowls, one for feta and one for the almonds, just in case anyone wants to add some more.

And voila...
Pungent, tarty and refreshing for the taste buds!



Needless to say, the salad was a hit, the extra almonds and feta were much appreciated, summer was good and my trip was both relaxing and active at the same time. I took a photo of how my most relaxing day looked like at Lake Union's westernmost point in Freemont.


Statue of Peace Leader, Sri Chinmoy at Lake Union