Suzi's Blog
Baby Spinach Salad with Roasted Strawberries
Yes, that was Suzen earlier today on SiriusXM Channel 110. That’s the Martha Stewart Living channel. The 3PM cooking slot was being hosted by our good friend Michele Scicolone. Michele is famous for her extraordinary array of cookbooks. Mostly Italian, it’s true, but The French Slow Cooker is a best seller and a “best eater” too.
Suzen was on the show today to answer questions about home cooking parties. How do you plan for a party, what to serve, how many people can you have, what to drink, … Michele and the listeners who called in had lots of questions. For the topic of what to serve, Suzen presented this recipe, a favorite for the bridal shower and bachelorette events she has weekly at Cooking by the Book.
Already since the show today we’ve had calls to put the recipe on this blog, and we are happy to post it now. Suzen loves this salad with its mixture of sweet and sour and that adornment of roasted strawberries. Be sure to cool those strawberries before placing on the spinach — the idea here is not to have wilted spinach.
Baby Spinach Salad with Roasted Strawberries
Yield: Serves 8
Ingredients:
- 2 pints large strawberries
- 2 pints large strawberries
- 1tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1½ teaspoons sea salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 6 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ¼ cup fresh or frozen orange concentrate
- 4 teaspoons finely chopped fresh tarragon
- ¾ cup slivered or sliced almonds
- 9 cups baby spinach
- 5 ounces pecorino Romano cheese, shaved
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Using a paring knife, hull the strawberries and cut then in half lengthwise. Spread the berries on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and sprinkle with 2 teaspoons sugar, ¼ teaspoon of the salt and several grinds of pepper. Toss to coat the berries evenly, then spread them out again. Roast until softened, about 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature, gently sprinkle with the chopped tarragon
In a small nonreactive bowl, whisk together the vinegar, orange juice, the 1 tablespoon sugar, ¾ teaspoon of the salt and several grinds of pepper until the sugar dissolves. Slowly whisk in the remaining 6 tablespoons of olive oil until well blended to make vinaigrette. Taste and adjust the seasonings
In a small bowl, stir together the almonds and ¼ teaspoon of the salt. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt and several grinds of pepper. Whisk the vinaigrette to recombine, drizzle about 1/3, less or more, over the spinach and toss well (reserving any remaining for another use). Taste and adjust the seasonings.
Divide the dressed spinach evenly among individual plates, top each serving with an equal amount of the roasted strawberries, sprinkle with the almonds and cheese. Serve immediately.
Source: Adapted from New Flavor for Salads by Dana Cheney
Wildberry Sangria
It’s Father’s Day. And I am posting this late, but this idea will be perfect for any Sunday afternoon from now until the snow flies.
Sangria is one of those terms that can inspire delight or disgust. The bottled “sangrias” you can buy are generally lamentable, distant and very poor cousins to something freshly made with fresh fruits and the right level of sweetness.
The choice of which fruits to add to your wine [red or white] and how much is very much up to you. I like to make my sangria with what is “fresh” and available now. And now is peak berry season.
The trick with a berry sangria is how to extract the flavor. If you are using apples or peaches or lemons or limes or oranges, that is not a issue. You just slice them up. Berries are different. You want the flavor of, say, blackberries, but you do not want mush and you certainly do not want to spend time slicing individual berries — and then there’s the matter of little seeds floating around.
In her book 101 Sangrias and Pitcher Drinks, master mixologist Kim Hassarud has a lovely solution. Put berries and sugar syrup in a sauce pan, and cook until the berries are softened and lightening in color. You don’t want that mush, but you want to have extracted liquid, flavored the sugar syrup and be ready to add dense color to your sangria.
The recipe below is one of several we’ll try this summer. This recipe calls for ½ cup of berry flavored vodka. Lacking that today, I used peach flavored vodka and found the peach flavor definitely contributed to the overall the taste of the drink. Too much? Well, I’m going to get some berry vodka, too. Actually, in blogs to come, we’ll discuss making your very own berry flavored liqueurs.
Wildberry Sangria
Yield: serves about 7
Ingredients:
- ¾ cup each of any three of the following berries: strawberries [hulled and sliced], blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or boysenberries ]total: 2 ¼ cups of berries]
- ¾ cup simple syrup
- 1 bottle of red wine
- ½ cup triple sec [or, better, use a higher quality orange liqueur like Mandarin Napoleon]
- ½ cup berry-flavored vodka
- 1 cup orange juice [fresh squeezed if you can]
Preparation:
In a saucepan, combine all of the berries with simple syrup over low heat. Stir constantly until the berries just being to soften and discolor. Set aside
Combine the remaining ingredients in a large ceramic or glass container. Add the berry mixture [berries and liquid], and stir well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Serve with ice. You may garnish either the pitcher or the individual glasses with berries. In fact, you can freeze berries and substitute those for ice cubes.
Source: 101 Sangrias and Pitcher Drinks by Kim Hassarud
