A fresh summer salad with fruit sweetness and walnut crunch
Summer is salad season, and we love that! When it is too hot to turn on the oven, or when we would much rather be frolicking in the sun or strolling around our beautiful city, a no-nonsense salad which ticks off so many boxes is just the answer. Delicious. Check. Nutritious. Check. Quick and easy. Check. Inexpensive. Check. Too good not to share…check!
The dates and peaches added here lend wonderful texture and sweetness to this summer salad; we find that raw spinach benefits from the flavour of the fruit. The walnuts provide not only some protein, but also crunch.
Salads made with spinach are particularly wonderful as they tend to hold up a little better than those made with more delicate greens. So, if you get distracted from lunch with the need to take another dip in the pool (or ocean if you’re super lucky), your salad won’t become a soggy spinach mess.
Helpful hints
The most complicated part of this recipe might be preparing your fruit. You will likely need a very sharp paring knife to slice the peach and to remove it’s pit. Be careful that you don’t cut yourself. If it’s too difficult to cut the peach into wedges, simply use any means possible to cut it into pieces that you can add to your salad. Pretty is nice, but not essential.
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We have found that the best way to cut up dates is to use a pair of kitchen scissors. They are sticky, so you can rub a little bit of olive oil onto the blades of your scissors, or your knife if that is what you are using, to help you cut the dates. Before you do this though, remove the pit; this is pretty easy to do by squeezing your date and prying the pit out.
Looking for more salad recipes? Try these:
Citrus salad with fried halloumi
Greek style cobb salad
Maniatiki salad
Spinach salad with peaches and dates
Ingredients
- 150 grams fresh baby spinach
- 1 peach
- 3 medjool dates
- 2 green onions
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
Salad dressing
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash and dry your spinach and remove any tough stems (although with baby spinach, there usually aren't any tough stems). Place spinach in a large salad bowl.
- Cut your peach into wedges and add them to the spinach. Remove the pits from your dates and cut them into slivers (about the size of a slivered almond). Add the dates to the spinach as well.
- Finely chop your green onions, including the white and green parts. Add to the salad bowl.
- In a mason jar or mixing bowl combine all of the ingredients for the dressing. Mix well. If using a jar it is easiest to put the lid on and shake the jar. Pour as much of the dressing as you like onto your salad. Mix well and serve. Any remaining salad dressing can be reserved in the refrigerator.
- Enjoy!
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