Monday, July 12, 2010

spinach salad with poppy seed dressing

there is this local restaurant here in the valley O' cache that has a few salads to die for. one of them is a broccoli salad with golden raisins (would be better with the addition of bacon IMHO) and the other is a spinach salad.

both have an amazing poppy seed salad dressing on them. i think it's the same dressing. anyway. i spent an hour at my mother's house trying to recreate the dressing...and by jove, i think i figured it out. at least i came close.

you should make this salad tonight, because it's july and it's hot. and you don't need to cook anything.

poppy seed dressing

*2/3 cup sugar (experiment with the amount. 1/2 cup might be plenty.)
*1/3 cup warm water
*1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
*1 cup vegetable oil
*1/2 tsp. salt
*1-2 tsp. poppy seeds

whisk together water, sugar and vinegar until sugar is dissolved. add the salt and poppy seeds. slowly whisk in vegetable oil and mix well. makes about 2 1/2 cups.

spinach salad

i don't really have measurements for this salad, because i just toss it all into a bowl. it's a salad for heck's sake. so.. these are guesstimates, like all my cooking. sorry if this makes you crazy.

*2 lbs spinach (2 16 oz bags. i like to buy the prewashed organic baby spinach.)
*1/2-3/4 cup feta cheese
*1 cup sliced strawberries
*1/2 cup roasted almonds (roasted sweetened almonds are amazing!)
*poppy seed dressing to taste (about 1 cup)

don't mix this together until right before serving. i like to toss the salad together first, and then put the strawberries on top. otherwise, the feta cheese turns pink.