Blueberry Spinach Salad w/ an Agave Vinaigrette

I was so excited when I came across spinach at the market last week. Usually only the local one is available, which isn’t very great to eat raw since the flavor is a little too intense. I immediately pulled out all of my books and searched for spinach salad recipes and planned to overdose on salad all week. I started out well, but I ended up giving in to junk food cravings and comfort eating. Why is fried chicken so damn good??

 

I’m pretty proud of today’s recipe since I put it together myself. A while back, Rabin and I went to a restaurant in Toronto and tasted one of the greatest salads I’ve ever had. There were roasted golden beets and arugula, goat cheese and candied pecans and some kind of sweet vinaigrette. I tell you – I’ve never thought I would have liked 3/4 of those things, much less combined. Additionally, a lot of those ingredients aren’t readily available here, so I wanted to make something that felt a little crazy (but worked) like that salad rather than “this salad has turned me off all salads for the rest of my life” crazy.

 

So here’s the recipe, it’s pretty simple to throw together and is filling and fresh. It doesn’t really have anything to do with the original salad at all, but when Rabin tried it, he said “you know what this reminds me of? That salad we had the last time we were in Canada…” Mission accomplished 🙂

 

Blueberry Salad w/ an Agave Vinaigrette

• Servings: 2 as a main dish, 3-4 as a side
• Time: 10 mins
• Difficulty: super easy
• Print

Ingredients for Salad

4 cups loosely packed Spinach leaves

1/2 cup Pecans, roughly chopped

1/3 cup Blueberries

1 Apple (I used McIntosh)

1/2 tsp ground Flaxseed (optional)

 

Ingredients for Vinaigrette

1 tbsp. Olive Oil

1 tbsp. Lemon Juice

1 tsp. freshly grated Lemon zest

2 tbsp. Agave Syrup

Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes

Pinch of Black Pepper

 

Instructions

Toast Pecans in a 350 oven for 8 -10 minutes. Watch carefully to make sure it doesn’t burn. In the meantime, prepare the vinaigrette by whisking ingredients together. Dice apple. Toss salad ingredients with vinaigrette. Sprinkle with flaxseed if using. Serve immediately.

 

Note: If you’d prefer to serve later, prep as usual, but don’t dice the apples – cut them before you’re ready to serve. The lemon in the vinaigrette will keep the apples from browning to an extent, but it really depends on how long in advance you’re preparing the salad.

 

Another Note: I would totally use the flaxseed every time. The only reason most of these pictures don’t have flaxseed is because I kind of forgot to sprinkle it on before :s

 

So what else is going on? I’m pretty excited about the new season of shows starting in mid September. We’re almost there! I had a TV Pilot night with my siblings last week – we watched the few Pilots that have been released and I’m the most surprised by ‘Selfie’. When I first heard the name, I literally rolled my eyes and thought to myself “this better get cancelled soon”. Surprisingly, it’s a kind of charming modern day version of My Fair Lady. I actually liked it more than A to Z, but I’ll still watch future episodes because I haven’t dealt fully with the HIMYM betrayal and seeing Cristin Milioti in a romantic comedy feels like NBC is patting me on the back saying “there there, we’ll fix what that mean old CBS did to you.”

 

Another notable pilot? The Flash. The CW so clearly has the ‘handsome leading man + funny sidekick + seemingly unattainable love interest + unlikely love interest that will blossom into the one you root for + one supportive parent (or two supportive parents but one will die at some point in the show)’ equation down cold. Seriously, think about it. Arrow, Smallville, Dawson’s Creek, Gilmore Girls…even Supernatural has most of those elements. Peace out movies – TV is back! 

 

What does this have to do with salad? Not a thing. No wait, I have a connection! Eat this salad while you’re watching TV premieres instead of stuffing your face with popcorn / junk food. Boom. See? My mind isn’t THAT random :p . Happy weekend!