Fall Has Fallen
Published by Carolin on Tagged Appetizer, Salads, Side Dish, Vegetarian
Fall has fallen upon us. Yes it is officially here. The leaves on the trees are changing color. The weather is getting cooler, or in my case colder. My boys are telling me what they want to be for Halloween. Colton is going to be a Vampire again (should I be worried) and Keenan I am told by Colton, is going to be a Lion again (Keenan is only 2 ½ ) apparently it is up to his big brother to tell me what he should be.
Besides all the obvious signs of fall there are some great foods that taste their best in the fall. They are hardier than summer foods and can withstand the cooler weather. One of those foods is the dark leafy green called spinach. It is such a wonderful food. It is extremely healthy. It is a good source of iron, vitamin A,C,E,K and magnesium. It is also a source of folic acid (for our prego mommies). But the most important factor is it taste great. I love it raw or cooked and as long as you don’t over cook it, the nutritional value remains in tact. Believe it or not I did not taste this wonderful green until I was about 16 years old. I was working part-time and we used to go out on Fridays for a bite to eat at the same restaurant every week. This is where I first experience the raw version in a salad and the cooked version in a crepe. I do believe it was love at first taste. My taste buds were very happy. So now I am 43 and still loving spinach as a matter of fact I was just out for dinner the other night and had oyster Rockefeller and they were loaded with spinach. They were so good.
I think a lot of people may not appreciate spinach as much as I do because of previous experiences. Especially if you are around my age. There is a good chance that when you were first introduced to spinach that it was out of a can. It was then put into a pot and cooked even more and needless to say when it was served to you it looked disgusting and tasted the same. Then you were told, but it is good for you. Yeh right.
So lets see if I can change your mind. I am going to share a salad recipe with you that is easy and very tasty.
Now the one thing to remember when working with spinach is it is dirty. More so than a lot of other greens. What I do is fill the sink full of cold water and let it soak. Then I rinse it throughly. There is nothing worst than eating griddie spinach. It is like eating sand. No Thanx.
Spinach and Orange Salad
1 Bunch of Spinach
3 Oranges sectioned (I’ll explain below)
½ Red Onion sliced
A Handful of Black Olives
A handful of toasted pine nuts (or any toasted nut you prefer)
Dressing
5-6 Tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3-4 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
The juice from the Oranges
Clean spinach and tear, place in a bowl. Take each orange and cut both ends off. Then place on a cutting board so they sit flat. Then run your knife from top to bottom to remove skin and the white of the orange. Over a bowl run your knife on either side of the membrane that separates the section. Add the sections to the spinach and reserve the juice for the dressing. Add the red onion, black olives and nuts to the salad.
In a separate bowl whisk together the red wine vinegar and orange juice. Slowly add the olive oil. Pour over the salad and toss.
Serve with a simple piece of grilled chicken or fish. Maybe some rice or roasted potatoes and you have a meal.
Enjoy
TIP OF THE DAY
Even if the spinach you buy says already washed, wash it again. Trust me on this one. I once believed them and guess what? I got sick, my husband got sick, the guest we had over for dinner got sick and since I fed some of the spinach to my dog she got sick.
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