OH BABY SPINACH WALNUT SPINACH SALAD WITH WHITE WINE DRESSING - A walnut spinach salad with a myriad of textures and welcoming tastes.
Oh Baby Spinach Walnut Salad with White Wine Dressing
Sometimes a homemade salad dressing is just the ticket to set your meal apart from others in a good way. This white wine dressing is a perfect fit for this baby spinach walnut salad.
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Suggested Tools:
· Chopping board
· Chopping knife
· Small pot
· Small bowl
· Large salad serving bowl and salad spoons
· Measuring cup
· Wooden spoon
Ingredients:
Salad -
· 1 10 ounce bag of fresh spinach
· 2 ½ cups thinly sliced button or cremini mushrooms
· ½ red onion, sliced thinly to no more than two inch lengths
· ½ cup walnuts, chopped roughly
· 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
· 8 slices bacon, cooked and roughly crumbled
Dressing -
. 6 tablespoons dry white wine
· 6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 3-4 lemons)
· 2 tablespoons garlic, finely minced
· 2 tablespoons sugar
· Salt and pepper to your desired taste
Directions:
1. Cook the bacon first and place the cooked bacon in the refrigerator until you are ready to prepare and serve the salad.
Note – If you choose to use the microwave method to cook the bacon, you can be guided by the following…
First lay down 2-3 layers of paper towels on a dinner plate. Then place the bacon on the paper towels (avoid over lapping the bacon) and cover the bacon with one or two paper towels. Cook on high for 8 minutes and check the bacon for doneness. It needs to be somewhat crispy. Cook further until bacon is to your liking for an additional 30 second intervals as needed.
Personally, I prefer crispy bacon and find that a good way to achieve a crispy bacon is to use the microwave. The general rule of thumb I use for microwaving bacon is to begin cooking the bacon at about one minute per piece of bacon and add more time at 30 second intervals as necessary…the thicker the bacon, the longer it will take to cook.
Dressing -
2. Add the olive oil into a small pot. Place on medium low heat. Add the garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the wine, lemon juice and sugar and simmer 4-5 minutes.
4. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool.
Combining Salad and Dressing –
1. First go through your baby spinach and pick off any long stems which can be unappealing
2. In a large bowl, combine spinach, mushrooms, onions, walnuts, and bacon.
2. After mixing the dressing well, drizzle a little dressing at a time on top of the salad and then toss the salad. Continue this process 2-3 more times until you have a sufficient and even amount of dressing coated in the salad. You likely will have some left over dressing which can be saved for two or three days.
3. Sprinkle 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese on top of the dressed salad and toss. Continue this process two more times to thoroughly incorporate the cheese into the salad.
Note: It's relatively important to mix the dressing into the salad before the cheese so that the cheese will adhere better to the dressing and not just fall to the bottom of the bowl.
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