May 302011
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Hypothetically speaking you could be invited to a BBQ today and be asked to bring a salad or “whatever is easy”.
Brain wracking ensues to be sure that you, the food blogger that you are, brings something sufficiently impressive in order to fulfill the group expectations (or maybe it is simply your own expectations that you are placing on the group).
You decide on using some of the white and purple eggplant from your last farm share thinking about what a perfect conversation piece it would be.
Typically you would just slice it, coat it with olive oil and seasoning and grill it. But nooooo this time you decide to slice it and coat it in salt because that is what you’re supposed to do with eggplant. They all say so. You aren’t actually sure who “they” is though.
Said eggplant drains of water and juices for several hours and then is laboriously rinsed of salt and dried with paper towels, then each piece is sprayed with oil and placed on a preheated grill and checked intermittently. Each time the pieces looking drier and drier and when one piece is sampled it is very….salty. So you decide that instead of making the eggplant the centerpiece of the entire salad, layered with fresh heirloom tomato and topped with aromatic organic basil from your garden and some fresh mozzarella, maybe you will continue to grill the eggplant slices on low heat until they become chips. For several more hours.
Once the eggplant slices are done drying and turning into gray chip-like forms you taste them and they are then overly salty and horrible, you toss the entire thing and come up with plan B.
You spend five minutes slicing some tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, throw it over some spinach with some pre-chopped sun dried tomatoes and make your go-to balsamic dressing that you make for everything. Seven minutes later (in total) you’re done and everyone raves about the salad.
You think…why did I not just make the spinach salad in the first place instead of trying to get all fancy?
May you have a happy Memorial Day and I leave you with a piece of hypothetical advice, just skip plan A all together and go right to B.
Spinach Caprese Salad with Sun Dried Tomato and Balsamic Vinaigrette
Serves 8
Ingredients
8 cups fresh organic baby spinach
4 small tomatoes, sliced
1 8oz pkg fresh, part skim mozzarella, sliced then torn into smaller bite size peices
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes packed in oil and drained well
1 bunch fresh basil, chiffonade cut
Coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
Dressing (not pictured)
3 Tbsp good quality balsamic
3 Tbsp good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, pressed or minced
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp coarse ground mustard
Coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
Directions
1. Layer in a large bowl spinach, half the tomatoes, half the basil and half the sun dried tomato; top with mozzarella, add the remaining tomatoes, basil and sun dried tomato. Season with fresh ground pepper and salt, to taste.
2. Whisk dressing ingredients. Pour over salad when ready to serve.
Salad
| Nutrition Facts | |
| 8 Servings | |
| Amount Per Serving | |
| Calories | 84 |
| Total Fat | 4.7 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2.9 g |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 0.2 g |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 1.3 g |
| Cholesterol | 16.4 mg |
| Sodium | 210.8 mg |
| Potassium | 259.5 mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 3.0 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0.9 g |
| Sugars | 0.8 g |
| Protein | 8.0 g |
| Vitamin A | 61.5 % |
| Vitamin B-12 | 3.9 % |
| Vitamin B-6 | 4.4 % |
| Vitamin C | 15.9 % |
| Vitamin D | 0.0 % |
| Vitamin E | 3.5 % |
| Calcium | 21.7 % |
| Copper | 3.8 % |
| Folate | 15.8 % |
| Iron | 6.0 % |
| Magnesium | 8.7 % |
| Manganese | 16.2 % |
| Niacin | 2.1 % |
| Pantothenic Acid | 0.9 % |
| Phosphorus | 15.3 % |
| Riboflavin | 9.0 % |
| Selenium | 6.4 % |
| Thiamin | 2.6 % |
| Zinc | 6.6 % |
| *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. | |
Dressing
| Nutrition Facts | |
| 8 Servings | |
| Amount Per Serving | |
| Calories | 58.4 |
| Total Fat | 5.1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 0.7 g |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 0.4 g |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 3.7 g |
| Cholesterol | 0.0 mg |
| Sodium | 66.4 mg |
| Potassium | 1.4 mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 2.9 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0.0 g |
| Sugars | 2.9 g |
| Protein | 0.0 g |
LOL, love this. You know you can't ever just go the easy way.
Salad looks great and I hope you're having a great weekend!
I feel your pain re: potlucks. I agonize over it, too. Eggplant chips are on my list of things to do though! But in the meantime, with fresh produce I am sure this salad cannot be beat.
Yum!
Oh my gosh this sounds exactly like me!!! Anytime anyone has every asked me to make them something I usually panic. No reason to but the expectations (I just assume everyone has) are very high!
This salad looks great and so easy!
Love the “hypothetical” situation! I tend to do the same thing, and yet it's funny how the most simple things can be such a hit. I can see why this salad was too. It sounds perfect!
Oh I'm SO sorry the eggplant didn't quite turn out! But this salad more than makes up for it. Caprese never fails to please!
Oh this is my kind of salad! This just looks awesome! If you get a chance I would love for you to enter my eco friendly giveaway.
Thanks for visiting all! I love reading your comments. Alicia…I will stop by and check out the giveaway!
haha My grandma always salted, my mom just leaves the slices out on paper towels to dry and it takes longer, but no salt
Dawn, I would love to have this salad now and it's only 6:30am! Looks delicious, flavourful, colourful and very healthy.
I don't salt the eggplant because 'they' say it's to remove the bitterness, I only buy eggplants when in season and pick them from the farm myself, they are sweet and never bitter so I never worry about that part but they take a little longer to cook on the grill that way.
YUM