Blueberry Avocado Spinach Salad (It’s Gettin Hot In Here, So Take Out All Your Salad Greens)
Woohoo, it is going to get really hot this weekend! When the temperature hits 3 digits it’s time to get out of the kitchen as fast as you can. Time for al fresco dining-cool, refreshing salads, sweet and juicy summer fruits accompanied by an array of cheeses. A pitcher of Sangria…just maybe we can get through this heatwave. Found a tasty and eye-catching salad from Over Easy by Joy the Baker (latest book and amazing blog) that I love, call it my salad of the week, or month or maybe year, Blueberry Avocado Spinach Salad. The list of star studded ingredients in this green menagerie include toasted hazelnuts, blueberries, avocados and cucumbers. Dressed with a sweet, slightly tart dressing that reminds me of a poppyseed dressing popular on spinach salads back in the day, it’s dee-licious.
I have gone crazy with this salad with additional yummies-pancetta “cracklins” or crispy bacon bits, thinly sliced red onions for some bite, or sliced hard-boiled eggs for protein, YUM. The toasted hazelnuts have no substitute, their crunch and flavor are hard to beat in this salad and they go so well with blueberries, like Fred and Ginger.
The dressing is easy and quick. Start with a squeeze of lemon juice, a dollop of dijon mustard, glop of honey and whisk in some EVOO. Alternative easy method: throw it all in a bottle and shake, shake shake. Season with salt and pepper to taste and that’s it. You don’t need no stinkin’ supermarket bottle stuff, nope.
Add sliced hard-bolied eggs, thinly sliced red onions or green onions, diced, all optional but yummy
This is a lovely salad, hope you will try it and share it with friends and family.
Blueberry Avocado Spinach Salad
Ingredients
The Dressing
- 2 tbsp Honey
- 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
- ¼ tsp. sea salt
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 4 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup olive oil
The Fixings
- 6 cups Baby spinach (generous cups) washed, rinsed and dried
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 1 cup English or Persian cucumber thinly sliced
- 1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts coarsely chopped
- 1 ripe avocado thinly sliced
- 1-2 hard-boiled eggs sliced
Instructions
- Whisk together honey, mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Whisk in lemon juice. Add olive oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly, until mixture is emulsified and thick. Taste, and season with additional salt and pepper as desired.
- Toss together spinach, blueberries, cucumber and 1/2 of the hazelnuts in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over the salad, and toss to combine. Sprinkle with remaining hazelnuts. Top with avocado.
Notes