Spinach Salad ala Mama

When I was growing up, my mother was never much of a "lady who lunches" type of gal.  She was busy shuttling the older 3 to various activities, and being the quintessential room mom of the 70's to me, the baby. (She made Betsy Ross hats for every girl in my Kinder class so that we could participate in a program for the US Bicentennial in style. That plus the gingham skirts and we were quite adorable, I must say.) 

When we moved from the city to the country, when I was 9, some of that changed. My siblings (who are all at least 10 years older than I am) were out of the house and she had a bit more time to do things for herself.  She and a girlfriend who had made the same move from city to rural life, started exploring our new town with shopping and lunch excursions. 

One such trip was to a restaurant in our town called The Country Spirit. It was in a lovely old building on Main Street in Boerne. This building is one of several in town that is reported to be haunted (hence the clever name, perhaps?) and it is where Mama had this delicious Spinach Salad and began to replicate it at home. While we never encountered any ghosts on any of our trips to the restaurant, this salad is pretty "other worldly" on its own - fresh Spinach layered with marinated bean sprouts, water chestnuts, chopped hard boiled egg and crispy, savory bacon bits topped with a tangy sweet-tart French style dressing.

Mama's Spinach Salad (makes about 4 servings with dressing left over for other uses) (adapted from The Country Spirit)

• 2 bunches of fresh spinach, washed well, torn/rough chopped into manageable pieces
• 1 can of bean sprouts (see note below about fresh)
• 1 can sliced water chestnuts
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 1 lb. bacon, fried crisp ( I always cut mine into small cubes before frying -easier than crumbling after)
• 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 1/3 C ketchup
• 1/4 C vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsp chopped onion
• 1 C canola oil

1. Make dressing: In blender (or in deep container to use immersion stick blender like I do) combine, sugar, ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Slowly add oil into the blender while it is on so that the oil will emulsify with the other ingredients and the dressing thickens a bit.
2. In a container, dress the bean sprouts with a few tablespoons of dressing. Toss to coat and marinate for a few hours or overnight.
3. Compose salad: In individual serving bowls, start with a layer of fresh spinach. Top with a few tablespoons of marinated bean sprouts, then add a sprinkling of water chestnuts, chopped hard boiled eggs and bacon bits. Top with a drizzle of dressing and enjoy!

Note: I ran up against a little stumbling block and didn't have any canned bean sprouts in the pantry. The closest shop nearby didn't have any canned sprouts either. But, they did have fresh. I purchased the bag of fresh mung bean sprouts and lightly steamed them before proceeding as described above. They were great and lacked that slight metallic taste that is sometimes detected in the canned. 

Happy Cooking!

 sld

Tweet