Sweet Spinach Salad

Judy-Jude's Note:

A very light and sweet salad, no oil is used in this recipe. The cayenne pepper gives the sweet dressing a little heat and the lemon zest adds some tartness.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 7 ounces baby spinach , rinse and pat dry
• 2 cups strawberries , sliced
• ¾ cup sun-dried tomato , not packed in oil, cut into matchstick lengths
• 1 ½ cups asiago cheese , shaved
• ½ cup pecan halves , chopped (optional)

Dressing

• ½ cup white wine (I used strawberry flavor zinfandel )
• 1 small shallot , minced
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 lemon, zest of
• 1⁄8; teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt or pepper

Directions:

1. Combine the first five ingredients in large serving bowl and toss lightly.
2. In small bowl combine remaining ingredients for dressing and stir until honey has dissolved. Can pour over entire salad or serve on the side and apply to each individual salad bowl.
3. If you want to wilt the spinach a little, you can warm the dressing up before adding it to the salad.
4. Garnish with additional shaved Asiago cheese.

Reviews

[Elisa72]

This was just okay. I left out the pecans for the nut-haters in the house; I'm sure they would have made it better, but still not great. I can see how others might really like it, it just didn't do it for us.

[Cookgirl]

I used dried strawberries in place of fresh. (I never buy fresh strawberries out of season.) I reduced the cheese to 1/2 cup and the same with the sun-dried tomatoes. The flavor combination is delicious but the balance of flavors is off considerably. That shouldn't stop you from trying the salad. It didn't stop me. cg 4 stars for flavor and color.

[kzbhansen]

This was really good, I used dried cranberries instead of strawberries and only used a small amount of the cheese as the previous reviewer said. It was really good. Thanks for posting