Red & Green Warm Spinach Salad ♥

Red & Green Warm Spinach Salad, another simple but special salad ♥ AVeggieVenture.com.
graphic button small size size 10 Today's Christmas-y salad recipe: Quick sautéed spinach with a garlicky yogurt sauce, toasted walnuts, pomegranate seeds and fresh mint, a street food specialty called "salatet bil s'banegh joz" from the Middle East and North Africa. Totally captivating and refreshing, way more than the sum of its parts. Low carb! graphic button small size size 10

And isn't it festive and pretty?! And the unexpected combination of ingredients with a Middle-Eastern feel – spinach plus fresh mint, toasted walnuts, pomegranate seeds and yogurt – somehow really work. This salad has a lot of parts but luckily they're not "moving parts" and if you're inspired to serve this for a holiday meal – it has the right colors, yes? – all but the last step could be done in advance.

The recipe comes from Street Food: Exploring the World's Most Authentic Tastes by Tom Kime, what's turning out to be a real treasure. I love the irony that a street-side specialty called "salatet bil s'banegh joz" somewhere in the Middle East or north Africa (the book doesn't say where) is also perfect for a dinner party salad.

Delicious, this is!

RED & GREEN WARM SPINACH SALAD

Hands-on time: 30 minutes to prep ahead, 10 minutes to finish
Time to table: 40 minutes
Serves 4

SAUTÉED SPINACH
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 small onion, cut into slivers
8 ounces (225g) fresh spinach leaves, washed well, stems removed, cut into ribbons
Salt & pepper to taste

GARLIC YOGURT SAUCE
1 small clove garlic
Coarse salt (kosher, sea salt, etc)
1/4 cup Greek yogurt (or keffir, even buttermilk)

TOPPINGS
1/4 cup toasted walnut pieces
20 fresh mint leaves, chopped coarsely
Seeds from half a pomegranate (The Quick & Easy Way to Remove Seeds from a Pomegranate)

MISE EN PLACE Before starting to cook, you'll want to make sure the onion and spinach are prepped; the walnuts toasted; the pomegranate seeds separated; the mint cleaned and prepped; the Garlic Yogurt Sauce mixed. That's actually 90% of the "prep time" so take heart, you're nearly done! And all these things except the mint can be done ahead of time, even a day ahead if need be so it's a great last-minute salad to fix right before serving.

SAUTÉ THE SPINACH Heat the oil until shimmery in a large skillet. Add the onion and let cook until aromatic and beginning to turn gold, seasoning with salt and pepper. Add the spinach and cook, turning occasionally, until just tender and still bright green, seasoning with salt & pepper as the spinach cooks. Use tongs to lift the spinach from the skillet, letting the excess liquid stay in the pan. Carefully arrange the spinach on serving plates or on a serving dish.

GARLIC YOGURT SAUCE On a flat surface, mash the garlic into the salt with the a fork or the flat side of a knife. Stir into the yogurt.

TOPPINGS Drizzle spinach with Garlic Yogurt Sauce, then scatter with walnuts and mint. Top with pomegranate seeds.

SERVE warm, doesn't hold well, isn't as good cold.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
graphic button small size size 10 For everyday, you might want to omit the walnuts, pomegranate seeds and mint, leaving just the quick-cooked spinach topped with the garlicky yogurt sauce. So good!






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Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. Lovely, fresh combination of mint and pomegranate -- would be a fine accompaniment to some of the tagine dishes I've been making recently.

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  2. This is a lovely idea. Funnily enough I used pomegranate in a veggie this weekend too and it was delish. So it's good to see another dish with it. I am getting a lot of fresh spinach in my CA box lately so this would be great to try out!

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  3. Oh wow, mint and pomogranate what a fantastic sounding combo. This looks so refreshing. Thanks so much for bringing it to the party.

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  4. This looks like a beautiful Christmas salad! I just made a tasty spinach salad yesterday...love the fresh summer vegetables we are starting to get here!

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna