Weeknight Dinner: Spinach Salad
It can be a challenge for we who grew up in Grandma’s Kitchen to think of salad as a meal in itself. To us, through countless years of training weeknight dinner has been realized through the classic Home Ec meal design of a protein, a starchy side, a vegetable side, and dessert. In this practice, salad is a side dish or, on days when one is feeling virtuous, what you eat for lunch. Old-fashioned dinner menus are their own study, and a visit to the vintage cookbooks on the Homekeeper’s Bookshelf provides a fascinating glimpse into what was served for dinner at the American Table just a couple of generations ago. Wednesday night pork chops self-resurrected from a pool of the milk they cooked in, served over bullets of boiled white rice or a slither of egg noodles, accented by a dish of such fresh delicacies as lettuce in cream, salted cucumbers and tomatoes, even a fruit compote. Other treasures from the vintage veggie vault include aspics and molded salads, and countless ways to dress up canned and frozen vegetables for an appearance the dinner table.
In my grandmother’s kitchen, fresh vegetables and salad, while related, were separate serves. In season, she served fresh vegetables from her garden, cleaned, chilled, and presented in and of themselves: slices of cucumber sprinkled with vinegar and rock salt, yellow tomatoes placed as naked wedges in a bowl of her yellow Depression glass, rounds of sweet-hot red onion. Fresh salad was iceberg lettuce formed into cups and sprinkled with oil, salt, and pepper, whereas fancy salads for gatherings were three-bean, cole slaw, or the dreaded seven layer. Upon moving north, I learned about salad beyond the farmhouse table and church sideboard. In Pennsylvania, I fell with the gratitude of true discovery upon a bowl of Nana’s legendary pepper slaw even as I was bewildered by the preponderance of beets. I learned to eat chow-chow on a bowl of beans, and potato salad made with mustard and capers rather than mayo and pickles. In New York City, I tasted my first Caesar salad, prepared tableside, at the long-gone Joe’s Bar and Grill in the West Village. I fell so in love with the dish that it was the first dinner salad I learned how to make.
But it wasn’t the last. At Paris Commune, known for its brunches, I discovered Salade Niçoise, served alongside coffee from a French Press and a sparkling dram of Crème de Menthe, Cassis, or Lillet. At the Greek Diner, I encountered both the mighty Greek Salad and the local specialty Hoagie Salad. A health food restaurant near NYU served a salmon salad with mugs of hot Mu tea; nothing tasted so clean and filling. Taking a cue from my grandma, I investigated fresh vegetables as an interesting side dish as themselves, creating a vibrant pepper salad, fresh fennel tossed with oranges, and a version of green salad that takes the name literally. Many of these recipes are posted on Urban Home Blog – look for the salad tag – and three more are about to be. In this month of new growth as spring vegetables appear in garden and market, here is the first of three dinner salad recipes we serve our urban home.
Spinach salad is as stalwart as the leafy green vegetable it comes from. It abounds from the improvisation of the salad bar to the grab and go of the deli clamshell. As a lunch salad, it is best among friends on a patio, as the slightly wilted spinach mingles with a drippy poached egg or a righteous cube of tofu. This version, inspired by California cooking, will nicely fulfill that office. But it is a great springtime simple supper, especially after a visit to the farmer's market and accompanied by a chilled glass of Chardonnay - try the equally stalwart Bridlewood, Mark West, or Josh.
Spinach Salad
This salad is equally lovely served from a large wooden salad bowl or divided among individual pasta bowls. This recipe serves two; it can be doubled. Spinach wilts easily; that is why it looks like you're obtaining more than you think you'll need. Obtain extra firm tofu from an Asian grocer.
2 - 3 bunches fresh spinach or 1 10-ounce bag organic washed spinach
2 strips bacon
1 medium shallot, peeled, pithed and sliced into thin crescents
1/2 red onion, peeled, pithed, and sliced into thin crescents
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 - 2 sprigs fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 recipe poached eggs (click here) or 1 block extra firm tofu
Prepare the greens
Assemble the salad
Fried tofu
In my grandmother’s kitchen, fresh vegetables and salad, while related, were separate serves. In season, she served fresh vegetables from her garden, cleaned, chilled, and presented in and of themselves: slices of cucumber sprinkled with vinegar and rock salt, yellow tomatoes placed as naked wedges in a bowl of her yellow Depression glass, rounds of sweet-hot red onion. Fresh salad was iceberg lettuce formed into cups and sprinkled with oil, salt, and pepper, whereas fancy salads for gatherings were three-bean, cole slaw, or the dreaded seven layer. Upon moving north, I learned about salad beyond the farmhouse table and church sideboard. In Pennsylvania, I fell with the gratitude of true discovery upon a bowl of Nana’s legendary pepper slaw even as I was bewildered by the preponderance of beets. I learned to eat chow-chow on a bowl of beans, and potato salad made with mustard and capers rather than mayo and pickles. In New York City, I tasted my first Caesar salad, prepared tableside, at the long-gone Joe’s Bar and Grill in the West Village. I fell so in love with the dish that it was the first dinner salad I learned how to make.
But it wasn’t the last. At Paris Commune, known for its brunches, I discovered Salade Niçoise, served alongside coffee from a French Press and a sparkling dram of Crème de Menthe, Cassis, or Lillet. At the Greek Diner, I encountered both the mighty Greek Salad and the local specialty Hoagie Salad. A health food restaurant near NYU served a salmon salad with mugs of hot Mu tea; nothing tasted so clean and filling. Taking a cue from my grandma, I investigated fresh vegetables as an interesting side dish as themselves, creating a vibrant pepper salad, fresh fennel tossed with oranges, and a version of green salad that takes the name literally. Many of these recipes are posted on Urban Home Blog – look for the salad tag – and three more are about to be. In this month of new growth as spring vegetables appear in garden and market, here is the first of three dinner salad recipes we serve our urban home.
Spinach salad is as stalwart as the leafy green vegetable it comes from. It abounds from the improvisation of the salad bar to the grab and go of the deli clamshell. As a lunch salad, it is best among friends on a patio, as the slightly wilted spinach mingles with a drippy poached egg or a righteous cube of tofu. This version, inspired by California cooking, will nicely fulfill that office. But it is a great springtime simple supper, especially after a visit to the farmer's market and accompanied by a chilled glass of Chardonnay - try the equally stalwart Bridlewood, Mark West, or Josh.
Spinach Salad
This salad is equally lovely served from a large wooden salad bowl or divided among individual pasta bowls. This recipe serves two; it can be doubled. Spinach wilts easily; that is why it looks like you're obtaining more than you think you'll need. Obtain extra firm tofu from an Asian grocer.
2 - 3 bunches fresh spinach or 1 10-ounce bag organic washed spinach
2 strips bacon
1 medium shallot, peeled, pithed and sliced into thin crescents
1/2 red onion, peeled, pithed, and sliced into thin crescents
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 - 2 sprigs fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 recipe poached eggs (click here) or 1 block extra firm tofu
Prepare the greens
- Lay each bunch of spinach on a cutting board. Safely use a kitchen knife to chop each bunch at the bottom of the leaves, where the stem emerges from the green part of the leaf. Leave the leaves whole.
- Place the chopped fresh spinach into an in-sink colander. Rinse the spinach lightly.
- Toss the sliced red onion with the spinach.
- Cover the spinach-onion mixture with a layer of paper towels, and leave to drain.
- Prepare the dressing
- Place the bacon strips side by side on a cutting board. Safely use a kitchen knife to cut across the bacon strips to form matchstick-shaped pieces. It is okay if they aren't perfect.
- Drizzle a saute pan with a four count of extra-virgin olive oil.
- Scatter the chopped bacon and the cut shallot across the olive oil.
- Heat on medium until the bacon is crisp and the shallots are soft and translucent, approximately 5 minutes.
Assemble the salad
- Place the spinach-onion mixture into a large mixing bowl. Strip the oregano evenly over the spinach. Season the spinach with fresh black pepper and a very light sprinkling of salt.
- Measure the vinegar and orange juice into the bowl and lightly toss the salad with the vinegar-juice mixture.
- Just before serving, reheat the pan containing the bacon and shallot.
- Working quickly, heat the mixture just so that the oil warms up, approximately 1 minute.
- Turn off the heat and, working quickly but steadily, use one hand to safely drizzle the hot oil along with the bacon and shallot in a thin stream into the bowl containing the salad while using the other hand to stir the mixture together. Use a silicon spatula to get the bacon bits and sauteed shallot into the bowl while you are mixing.
- Serve immediately, topping with poached eggs or fried tofu (see below) if using.
Fried tofu
- Place a layer of paper towels on a dinner plate.
- Unwrap the tofu and gently place it on the plate so that the towels begin to absorb the moisture.
- Place a layer of paper towels on top of the tofu.
- Place a salad plate on the tofu.
- Let the tofu sit, weighted with the plate, for five minutes
- Once the tofu has been dried and pressed as above, move the tofu to a cutting board. Safely use a sharp knife to cut the tofu into bite-sized squares.
- Pour a three-count of olive oil into a saute pan.
- Gently place the tofu squares into the pan so that the squares don't touch each other.
- Saute the tofu over medium heat, turning with a wooden spatula or spoon as each side gets crisp and dark, about 5 minutes.
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