Winter Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Vinaigrette
A truly alive-tasting green salad in the middle of winter can almost make you cry. When you taste local winter spinach for the first time, you realize that here is something your body and palate has craved for months.
Ingredients
½ lb. winter spinach, cut or torn into bite-size pieces
1 large apple, thinly sliced
¼ cup crumbled local feta
¼ cup very thinly sliced red onion
4 strips bacon
2 Tbsp. finely minced shallot
¼ cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp. whole grain mustard
2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Wash and dry spinach (if necessary) and place in a large serving bowl. Top with apple, feta and red onion.
Fry bacon in a skillet until crisp, remove and drain on a paper towel. When cool, crumble and add to salad. Reduce heat on the bacon fat, add shallot and sauté until golden, about 2 minutes.
Whisk in maple syrup, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer, cooking for 3-4 minutes until slightly thickened. Let cool a bit and serve warm over salad.
Suggestions
Variation: Substitute sliced and roasted squash for apples, and blue cheese for feta.
Wisconsin feta cheese comes in several different flavors including tomato, basil, black pepper, garlic, herb and dill. You could also try this recipe with a Wisconsin blue cheese, of which there are 60 different varieties.
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