Baby Spinach Salad With Dates and Almonds
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Ingredients
- 1tablespoon wine vinegar
- ½medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 3½ounces dates (100 grams), preferably Medjool, pitted and quartered lengthwise
- Salt
- 2tablespoons unsalted butter (30 grams)
- 2tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 2small pitas (about 3½ ounces, or 100 grams), roughly torn into 1½ -inch pieces
- ½cup whole unsalted almonds (75 grams), coarsely chopped
- 2teaspoons sumac
- ½teaspoon chile flakes
- 5 to 6ounces baby spinach leaves (150 grams)
- 2tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
232 calories; 15 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 23 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 13 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 210 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Put vinegar, onion and dates in a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt and mix well with your hands. Leave to marinate for 20 minutes, then drain any residual vinegar and discard.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, heat butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add pita and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring all the time, until pita is golden. Add almonds and continue cooking until pita is crunchy and browned and almonds are toasted and fragrant, about 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and mix in sumac, chile flakes and ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside to cool.
- Step 3
When ready to serve, toss spinach leaves with pita mix in a large mixing bowl. Add dates and red onion, remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, the lemon juice and another pinch of salt. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately.
Private Notes
Comments
For all who wonder, this is the best foolproof salad EVER! It is the kind of salad you start eating and then can't stop (Can salad really be like that?) I use left over pita from the Persian restaurant we frequent. Even days after, that pita works perfectly. I will say, storage for the pita chip mix is finicky. I stored it once for days, and then once the chips went soft. I think be sure to have an airtight container.
4th of July in Boston, so going to mkt not feasible, but really wanted to test this recipe. So ... needs must — substituted zaatar for sumac [it's mostly sumac anyway] and harissa for chile flakes. The result was total YUM!
This is wonderful, as are so many of the recipes in "Jerusalem." Instead of chopping almonds, I just buy slivered ones. And I don't quite use as much spinach, as I like a higher proportion of the date/onion mix.
Also use white wine vinegar (recipe here doesn't specify which to use, but book says "white"), which is partially seasoned rice vinegar.
I halved the recipe to serve two but kept the 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar for the marinade. I sliced each date quarter in fourths. The dates slightly dissolved in the marinade and added a wonderful sweetness to the salad. There was a small amount of syrup left after the onions & dates were drained so added that to the lemon juice & olive oil when tossing the salad. This is a delicious salad.
Just writing to verify this is a great recipe, even with substitutions. I had raisins and walnuts, and sliced up a couple of pears instead of pita, just what I had on hand. It was delicious!!
Terrific as written (though added some lemon zest for color). Even delicious a little wilted on Day 2 today with some pulled rotisserie chicken!! I may add the chicken from the start next time.