Spinach & Strawberry Salad with Glazed Almonds & Lowfat Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

Hello, my faithful readers! I apologize that it has been so long since I last blogged. I'm always surprised when life gets so busy. At the end of the day, I'm never quite sure how exactly it happens. I've been busy diligently selling our amazing berries, sweating through hot yoga, and driving thousands of miles. A couple of weeks ago, I found myself with a generous bunch of spinach, which prompted me to make the spinach and strawberry salad recipe from our website. It turned out quite well, and I think I may have converted a non-salad eater, but more on that later!

The recipe leads you step-by-step through making the vinaigrette dressing, the glazed almonds, and assembling the actual salad. Here's everything you'll need.

Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1 teaspoon finely minced fresh ginger
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon salad oil
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Glazed Almonds:
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 tablespoons sugar

Salad:
2 bunches spinach, stemmed, washed well and spun dry (about 8 cups)
2 cups strawberries, stemmed and halved or quartered, depending upon size
1/2 cup thinly sliced sweet white onions, such as Walla Walla Sweets, if in season

As I was getting everything together, I found a flower in my spinach. Lovely!

I started by mincing the ginger. Both ginger and mincing are things that I am not very familiar with, so I think I could have spent more time getting that root finely cut. It is an important flavor component in the dressing, and it was quite noticable when a small chunk of ginger got in a bite of salad. Not unpleasant, but it drew attention away from the rest of the flavors.

To make dressing:
In a blender combine the white wine vinegar, strawberries and ginger. Process until it is a smooth puree.

In a bowl place the Dijon mustard and the honey. Whisk in the pureed strawberry mixture and then slowly whisk in the oil, emulsifying the dressing until smooth. Stir in poppy seeds. Refrigerate until needed.

Even though the recipe calls for a blender to puree the dressing ingredients, the white thingy-ma-jig in the picture above worked well to blend. I looked it up, and thingy-ma-jig is indeed the kitchen tool's name. I have never pureed before - it was exciting to see a dressing come together bit by bit.

 

One call I had to make for the "salad oil" was to use either canola or vegetable oil. I decided on vegetable oil since it has a less noticeable taste.

 The dressing with the honey and mustard in it. While preparing the two after blending the berries, I realized that I had never thought I would make honey mustard dressing from just HONEY and MUSTARD. It tasted great before I added the puree, and I'll definitely consider making honey mustard dressing again.

With the poppy seeds! Now, you are ready to make the glazed almonds. It won't take very long, and you have to watch them or else you'll get sugar burned almonds.

To make the glazed almonds:

Lightly spray a baking sheet and set aside.

Place almonds and sugar in a non-stick skillet on high heat. Start stirring with a wooden spoon. Sugar will start to dissolve and then caramelize. Stir continuously to lightly toast almonds and coat with the sugar. When almonds and sugar are the color of dark amber and golden brown, quickly remove from the pan onto sprayed baking sheet.

Spread out with spoon and let cool totally before using. Break up before serving.


NOTE: Do not touch sugar or almonds with fingers when cooking or immediately after cooking. It is molten sugar and very hot!

 All in the skillet, pre-glazing.

 One thing I would do differently is buy silvered almonds. I crushed these guys from whole almonds, and some of them were too substantial for the salad bite. Overall, they added a pleasant note of sweetness to contrast with the vinegar in the dressing. Now you're ready for the third part.

To make and assemble the salad: Place the washed and dried spinach leaves in a large salad or serving bowl. Toss with the strawberries, onions and about 1/2 cup of the vinaigrette. Sprinkle almonds on the top of salad. Reserve extra vinaigrette for another use or serve extra on the side for those that desire more. Makes 6 servings - Vinaigrette recipe makes 1 cup.

Of course, I was pleased to see that the recipe called for berries in both the dressing AND the salad. I may have added more than two cups the recipe called for. Isn't it great to see so many natural colors in both the picture above and below?

Beautiful. This is my favorite picture.

 Everything all together and ready to eat.

Me, excited to eat and a little proud. It was a really great eating experience, one that made the salad eater stop and think about the various flavors going on. The dressing really is a standout. I highly suggest making this salad. It's simple and took no longer than an hour to prepare. It even inspired someone who said that he does not usually enjoy salads to have seconds! If that doesn't speak for how good this salad was, I don't know what will. Thanks SO much for reading, and I have not decided yet what's next. I'm open to suggestions, but I think it'll have to be a recipe that calls for another berry besides strawberry. See you at the markets and around the stand!

Jammin'

Ok, so I had a bunch of leftover Albion strawberries, and after I gave away as much as I could to my friends, I decided to make my first attempt at freezer jam. The recipe on skagitsun.com calls for 2 cups of crushed berries, 4 cups of sugar, and 1 package of pectin (specifically for no bake freezer jam). The picture below is of much, much more than 2 cups of berries. The original amount of berries is probably a little less than a half flat (forgot to capture pre-crushed berries).

While crushing, I had to decide how chunky I wanted the jam. I stopped when there were big chunks of berries, so that the jam eater can get a sense of the original fruit. Albions are very crisp and firm, so crushing took a strong arm and some effort. Here is a close-up shot of the crushed berries.

 

 After measuring out two cups of strawberries into a mixing bowl, I added organic cane sugar. When adding the sugar, I was surprised at how MUCH the recipe called for.

 A picture that shows how much the sugar dominates the berries.

 After mixing, leave the sugar to dissolve into the crushed berries for at least 20 minutes. I suggest continually trying the mixture to see when the granulated sugar has perfectly dissolved. I think I should have left mine for maybe five more minutes since there was, at first, a slight layer of sugar at the bottom of the containers. However, I think that layer has dissolved since I let the jam set.

 I forgot to take a picture of the pectin process. You are to dissolve one package into boiling water, however, the recipe on skagitsun.com does not specify how much water to boil. After some quick research on the interweb (i.e., Google), I found on pickyourown.org that it is common to boil one cup of water. This amount worked perfectly. As you pour the pectin-water into the berry mixture, stir continually for two minutes. When ready, pour into containers.

Let the containers sit for 24 hours, and then either put in the fridge or freezer. In the fridge, the jam should last for about three weeks. In the freezer, the jam can last for a year. Before eating, I did try to stir the jam so that the berry chunks (which had risen to the top) are mixed throughout. Also, there was that slight layer of sugar granules that I wanted to dissolve as much as possible. Overall, I was satisfied with how the jam set. It was not too runny or thick, and I haven't run into any grainy-sugar bits. Below is the final product and a piece of toast with butter and jam! As I bit into the toast, I thought of my grandma, which is almost always a sign of success when cooking. I am very happy with the yummy results and will be heading to the toaster (again) soon. Thanks for reading, and please send any great berry recipes you have my way at heather@skagitsun.com 

Strawberry Smoothies!

Today, I decided to have a go at the recipe for strawberry smoothies on skagitsun.com. It turned out great! The recipe calls for two cups frozen strawberries (about one pint's worth), two frozen bananas, a half-cup orange juice, and a half-cup yogurt. Here are the ingredients:

Orange juice: $2.99

Yogurt (2): $2.28

Bananas: $0.49

Strawberries: about $4.00. The variety is Honeyoye, our first June-bearing of the season.

Total: $9.76

 I bought two kinds of yogurt, greek and regular with vanilla bean flavoring, because I was not sure whether I wanted plain or vanilla in the smoothie. After tasting both, I decided on the greek yogurt because it was nice and thick, which I thought would add to the fruit in the smoothie. Also, I wanted to showcase the flavor of the fruit .

 My cat Chubbo was hanging around, so I decided that she can be considered a helper.

I did not have a regular blender at home, but the Kitchen Aid served me well!

 In action! Blending took about 3-4 minutes

 I decided to stop the blender once the consistency was nice and chunky. I wanted to taste the bits of banana and strawberry.

Yum yum yum! The strawberry smoothies turned out really well. I've got enough for two large glasses, and I already feel more energetic to do the Queen Anne Farmers Market today. See you all next week! I think I'll do the strawberry salad recipe with poppyseed dressing. Thanks for reading, and please send me any good berry recipes you know! heather@skagitsun.com

Some background

Wow! My first blog posting, ever. To be honest, I am quite new at this in several ways. First, I have never "blogged" before. Second, I have minimal cooking skills when it comes to berries. However, I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and tell my story to give you some idea as how this whole thing started.

Well, I have to be honest that I grew up disconnected from the food I ate. Sure, I loved and appreciated eating. But I enjoyed fast, simple, and "easy" food; I was definitely one of those children whom Michelle Obama is trying to educate and save. I loved fast food: McDonalds, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box. You name it, I would eat it! With such a diet, I found myself overweight during my adolesence and into my early twenties. I simply did not connect that the food I put in my mouth had such a huge impact on how I feel and how much energy I have. Also, I did not understand that a full tummy does not always equate to a satisfied body.

It was not until I started growing up that I realized the error of my dietary habits. I have been blessed to have a summer job that I have always loved. Since the age of 15, I have worked in the beautiful Skagit County for Skagit Sun Berries. Farmer Don and my aunt Pat have entrusted the job of Berry Salesperson to me every summer that I have been able to work (I did take a few summers off to backpack during college). Even though I have loved my job from day one - selling local, fresh, and delicious fruit to kind and happy people over the years - it was not until last summer that I can say I truly “got it.”

Last summer, 2010, Skagit Sun Berries first ventured into the lively world of farmers markets. I was able to work at most of the markets at which we sold. Being able to talk with other people who are just as excited as I am about local, virtuous produce gave me the opportunity to view food as it should be: a source of joy that not only feeds and nourishes your body but also your spirit. While my diet today is by no means flawless, I can say that my increased awareness of food as helped my body become much healthier overall.

So, we come to the summer of 2011, and again I am blessed to work for Skagit Sun and sell at local farmers markets. Only now, I want to share not just the fruit with you, but also ideas of what our berries can become. We have got a list of about ten really great recipes on our website (skagitsun.com) that I will be attempting throughout the short but sweet berry season. You can expect to see photographs and descriptions of what did or did not work with the recipes. Of course, you will also hear how the final product turned out.

The berries will be ready any day now. I can’t wait for our first day at market, since I’ve been waiting since last September to see the berries again! But until they are ready, I will plan. Please follow us on Facebook and/or Twitter to see what’s new with our farm, and when you can check out a new blog post. I am still new at both cooking and blogging, but I look forward to sharing and learning with you!

Take care, and see you berry soon! –Heather Tonnemaker