Summer Salads

Dinner the other night was a fine example of how we tend to eat during the summer months - whether it is raining or not! We had baked, herbed wild sockeye salmon steaks, sauteed asparagus and Strawberry Spinach Salad which has become a new favorite recipe I will gladly share here:

Strawberry Spinach Salad

2 TBSP sesame seeds 1 TBSP poppy seeds
½ cup white sugar ½ cup olive oil
¼ cup white vinegar ¼ TSP paprika
¼ TSP Worcestershire sauce 1 TBSP minced onion
10 oz fresh spinach (torn into pieces) 1 quart strawberries (sliced)
¼ cup almonds (blanched and slivered)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Cover, and chill for one hour. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds. Pour dressing over salad, and toss. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

I think the next time I make it I am going to add a little goat cheese and some walnuts to the salad. I will say that what I personally did differently was making up the dressing and containing it plus I just tore up SOME spinach - enough for me and my husband to have a reasonable portion each and sliced up a few strawberries to also be reasonable. I then just poured the dressing as if it was any vinaigrette and we had the same salad over several nights worth of dinners which worked perfectly to use up a pint of strawberries we had. I also made the dressing without the almonds which was perfectly fine though I imagine the almonds would made it good as well though, as I said, I plan to try walnuts next.