How To Make A Wilted Spinach Salad

A delicious and fairly healthy Spinach Salad with a hot Bacon, Maple Syrup Vinaigrette. We have a salad for dinner every other night at the 2 Cooks Shaque and this one finds its way into the rotation frequently. We’ll put a lot of goodies into the hot dressing and ladle it over baby spinach leaves. We eat this as a whole meal rather than a salad course.

This recipe is naturally gluten free.

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The Ingredients For Our Spinach Salad With Hot Dressing

• 2 Slices Bacon, cut into small pieces
• 6 Garlic Cloves, chopped
• 3 Green Onions, sliced
• 1/2 Cup Sliced Black Olives
• Several dashes Worcestershire Sauce
• 3/4 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Slivered Almonds
• Salt to taste
• 1/3 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/2 Cup Maple Syrup
• 5 oz Baby Spinach Leaves, large stems removed
• 1/3 Cup Dried Cranberries or Dried Cherries
• 1/2 Cup Feta Cheese

Cook the Bacon

We will put the bacon pieces in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook it for about five minutes, until some of the fat starts to render out. We’ll be cooking this a lot more so it doesn’t need to be too cooked at this point.

Add the Garlic

Next we’ll add the garlic and let that cook for about 3 minutes, just enough to get it softened a little.

The Green Onions

Once the garlic has softened we will stir in the green onions.

Add The Oil

Now we will put in our oil. We like to use peanut oil for this because it adds a nice flavor. You can use olive oil, or pretty much any other oil if you prefer

Add the Sliced Black Olives

Next we’ll add our black olives and salt. You don’t need to add too much salt at this point as you’ll have an opportunity to adjust the flavor later. We’re using Maldon Salt for this recipe.

Add The Slivered Almonds

Next we will stir in the slivered almonds. You could use another kind of nut here if you want. It’s going to give our dish a little crunch that’s pleasant when eating it.

Worcestershire Sauce

Then we’ll add the secret sauce. Worcestershire Sauce adds a subtle umami to food and we want about 3 or 4 shakes of it in our spinach salad dressing. We want the oil to be bubbling pretty lively and we’ll let this cook for 15 or 20 minutes.

Add Maple Syrup

After we have let the dressing cook for a while we will turn the heat down and add the maple syrup. You should only use pure maple syrup as the imitation just doesn’t have the same richness of flavor. We don’t want to cook this on heat that’s too high or some crystals will precipitate out.

Add Balsamic Vinegar

The last ingredient for our dressing is the balsamic vinegar. We’ll add that, stir and let it cook for a minute or two and then taste our dressing for balance. The vinegar and maple syrup should complement each other without one or the other being overpowering.

The Spinach and Dried Fruit

We’re ready to put our spinach salad together. We’ll fill 2 large bowls with spinach leaves and sprinkle some dried cranberries or dried cherries over the top. We like to sprinkle a little Maldon Flake Salt over this.

Ladle On the Hot Dressing

Now we will ladle on the dressing. We’ll start by making sure we get all the goodies out of the pot and then spread some hot oil over everything.

Top With Feta Cheese

We’ll top our salad with some crumbled feta cheese for a final touch and it is ready to serve.

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Here are some other salad/dressing recipes you might like to make:

• Bacon Blue Cheese Chopped Wedge Salad
• Green Goddess Salad Dressing
• Caesar Salad
• Kale Caesar Salad

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