Summer Salads - Spinach Strawberry Salad

One of my all-time favorite summer salads is a crisp plate of spinach, garnished with crunchy, freshly crumbled bacon, hard-cooked egg wedges, luscious sliced strawberries, and drizzled with a lighly sweet vinaigrette.

Baby spinach will always yield a lovely, mild flavor, but fresh-picked is de rigeur for the best salad, or at least, fresh-picked from the local farmers' market.

Add a grilled chicken breast, or salmon fillet and you have a quick and easy summer feast.

My other favorite, next to a wonderful fresh vegetable marinade, would have to be a savory, sliced chicken breast, warm from the grill, nestled in a bed of mixed greens and crispy croutons, topped with a creamy roasted garlic dressing and freshly shredded parmesan.

You will need:

• about a pound of fresh spinach, carefully triple-washed and divided among six plates
• 8 or 10 ripe strawberries, sliced
• 4 hard-cooked eggs, sliced or chopped, your preference
• 6 slices crisp bacon, crumbled - drain on a paper towel for several minutes to remove excess fat
• several slices of red onion
• 1 - 2 cups feta cheese, crumbled
  
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup slivered toasted almonds
• poppy seed dressing or raspberry vinaigrette
  

Brown bacon in skillet over medium heat. Drain on paper towels and crumble while still warm.

Wash and hull six to eight fresh strawberries and slice length-wise.

Slice or chop 4 hard cooked eggs, yolk-in, and set aside.

Cut three or four slices across the middle of a red onion and separate into rings. Set aside.

Wash and drain about 1 lb. of fresh spinach. Rinse each leaf carefull to remove any trace of sand and grit. Pat off excess water and set aside on paper towle to dry.

Divide spinach leaves among six plates.

Add a few onion rings to each plate.

Arrange several egg slices on top and sprinkle with crumbled bacon and feta cheese.

Toss strawberries with enough dressing for the six plates and spoon dressed berries over each plate.

Serve with crusty pimento loaf and extra dressing.

Enjoy!

Variations include:

• grapefruit and orange segments with spicy Thai dressing
  
• cranberries and raisins with a sweetened balsamic vinaigrette
• cooked and chilled acorn squash slices
• "wilting" the spinach with an oil and vinegar dressing warmed in the pan just used for the bacon. Deglazing the pan with the dressing helps it to pick up more of the the smoky bacon flavor and some of the crispy bacon bits left in the pan.
  

Caesar salad is perhaps the easiest of all salads to prepare. It is also one of the tastiest. This version calls for the addition of sliced, grilled chicken to the basic romaine, dressing and croutons.

Some purists prefer their Caesar unadorned, but my granny could be a bit of a "throw in everything but..." cook and in this case, it's certainly great to have so many choices of additions.

Granny's Kitchen Sink Caesar

• 2 heads romaine lettuce, washed and dried
• 1 whole garlic bud
  
• 6 - 8 slices crispy, crumbled bacon
• fresh croutons
  
• 3 hard-cooked eggs, sliced or chopped
• 3 - 4 fresh mushrooms, sliced
• Chicken breast, grilled and halved
• Prepared creamy Caesar dressing
• Grated aged Parmesan
• Fresh asparagus spears
• toasted slivered almonds
• 2 sweet small yellow tomatoes
  

Roast garlic bud in oven until golden brown. Remove and cool slightly, then extrude / separate out the cloves and mash gently with a fork.

Trim asparagus to remove any hard ends. Steam asparagus until just tender crisp and remove from heat. Drain and set aside.

Fry bacon til crispy, drain on paper towel and crumble while still warm. Pour off excess bacon fat.

De-glaze garlic cloves in pan drippings and remove to a small dish. Add pre-made dressing and blend thoroughly.

Toast croutons in de-glazed pan and remove to a warm plate or dish.

Tear romaine into bite-sized pieces, toss with some of the dressing to lightly coat, and divide among four plates.

Cut tomatoes into wedges.

In the center of each plate, place 1/4 of the sliced, grilled chicken in a fan shape.

In the inner curve of the fan, place several spears of asparagus, a a few wedges of tomato, a small mound of sliced mushrooms, several slices of hard-cooked egg, and a small mound of croutons.

Sprinkle the chicken and the composed elements with crumbled bacon, slivered, toasted almonds and drizzle with dressing.

Top liberally with grated Parmesan and serve the extra dressing on the side, in a sauce boat.