This is a salad that pleases everyone at the table. The dressing is simple and quick to throw together. When I serve salad for a dinner party I like to make it early in the day and get it out of the way. I lay out the salad on a platter without the dressing. Cover it with damp paper towels and plastic wrap. It can sit in the fridge all day and all you have to do is dress it right before you serve it. The platter will be cold and help to keep the salad from wilting, and the greens will be nice and cold and crisp as well.
- Baby spinach leaves- about 1 C. per person
- 2 navel oranges, peeled and segmented
- 3 strips of bacon, fried and crumbled
- 1/4 C. pine nuts
- 1/8 C. white wine vinegar
- 1/8 C. olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 t. sugar
- zest of one orange
First fry the bacon in a skillet until crisp and set aside. Lay the spinach on a plate or platter. Top it with the orange segments. Don’t put the bacon and pine nuts on yet-they will get soggy. Wrap the salad as I noted and store it in the fridge. Combine the vinegar, oil, a pinch each of salt and pepper, sugar and orange zest in a jar and shake it until it’s well combined. Just before serving top the salad with the bacon and nuts and drizzle the dressing over it. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper over the whole thing and serve immediately.
That does look like a crowd pleaser, pretty too.
I’d like a lesson on segmenting oranges to perfection-like yours!
If you look at the fennel-orange salad post there is a link to a video on how to do the oranges. There is something so nice and fancy about oranges prepared this way!