½ cup crumbled blue cheese (Feta, goat’s cheese or Parmesan will work too!)
For the vinaigrette
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 vegetable oil
2 tablespoons walnut oil
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Garnish
sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Takes ,
serves 6.
Instructions
Toast walnuts in a small skillet on moderate heat for about 5 minutes, tossing every minute or so. Set aside.
Prepare vinaigrette: Pour vinegar into medium bowl, season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and stir to combine. In a second bowl, stir the oils together. Slowly drizzle oils into vinegar, whisking constantly to emulsify.
Assemble salad: Place spinach and shaved fennel in large salad bowl and toss to combine. Add walnuts and cheese and drizzle with vinaigrette. Toss lightly. Transfer to salad or luncheon-sized plates. Garnish with a sprinkle of black pepper and sea salt flakes, if desired. Serve immediately.
Spinach and Fennel Salad
Ingredients
4 cups baby spinach, washed and spun dry
1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly shaved
½ cup walnut pieces
½ cup crumbled blue cheese (Feta, goat’s cheese or Parmesan will work too!)
For the vinaigrette
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 vegetable oil
2 tablespoons walnut oil
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Garnish
sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Toast walnuts in a small skillet on moderate heat for about 5 minutes, tossing every minute or so. Set aside.
Prepare vinaigrette: Pour vinegar into medium bowl, season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and stir to combine. In a second bowl, stir the oils together. Slowly drizzle oils into vinegar, whisking constantly to emulsify.
Assemble salad: Place spinach and shaved fennel in large salad bowl and toss to combine. Add walnuts and cheese and drizzle with vinaigrette. Toss lightly. Transfer to salad or luncheon-sized plates. Garnish with a sprinkle of black pepper and sea salt flakes, if desired. Serve immediately.
Spinach and Fennel Salad
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Fresh baby spinach and fennel tossed in a sherry vinaigrette with bursts of flavourful toasted walnuts and your choice of cheese…
You don’t want to miss this SPINACH AND FENNEL SALAD WITH WALNUTS AND CHEESE.
We’re big fans of freshly made salads here at Weekend at the Cottage, so if salads are what brought you here, you’ve come to the right place. After making (and enjoying!) this SPINACH AND FENNEL SALAD WITH WALNUTS AND CHEESE, make sure to circle back and click on our SALADScollection. You’ll find everything from our famous CAESAR SALAD and HEALTHY EVERYDAY SALAD to our crowd-pleasing COBB SALAD with chicken, corn and avocado, plus this ARUGULA SALAD WITH STRAWBERRIES and our super-popular EASY ASIAN COLESLAW.
This salad recipe is all about convenience; it’s quick to make and calls for only seven ingredients. We also like how it goes the distance – enjoy it as a first course for a dinner party, a side with your favourite main, or on its own as a healthy meal option. Think of it as a spinach salad with benefits!
Here’s how to make our SPINACH AND FENNEL SALAD WITH WALNUTS AND CHEESE:
This salad is a gathering of great flavours!
INGREDIENTS
Remember how we’re big fans of salads? We’re also big fans of recipes that put quality ingredients to good use. If said ingredients are of the organic and locally grown variety, all’s well in the world. When making this recipe, try to source organic veggies and purchase premium walnuts and cheese. With only seven ingredients in the recipe, it won’t be difficult.
These two veggies are loaded with vitamins and minerals. They’re pretty tasty, too!
SPINACH AND FENNEL
There are tons of health benefits to eating nourishing vegetables like baby SPINACH and fresh FENNEL – click those links for all the nutrition facts on these two ingredients. They can help reduce cholesterol while increasing our intake of healthy protein, vitamins, minerals and fibre. In terms of preparation, make sure to rinse the fresh spinach really well, removing any lingering sand or dirt. For the fennel, as mentioned in the VIDEO, you can thinly shave it using a sharp knife, or vegetable mandoline (carefully!) as we did. This fine shave will help release the licorice flavour. If you’re interested in purchasing a mandoline, I’ve provided some links down below.
Although we recommend a fragrant blue for this salad, feel free to use your favourite.
CHEESE
I’ve come to appreciate how passionate many of us are when it comes to the types of cheese we most enjoy. In crafting this recipe, we decided we better let all of you TUROPHILES pick your own. For best results, we suggest a cheese that crumbles easily, like blue, Feta or fresh goat’s cheese. Another solid option is grated Parmesan. All will work perfectly.
The pairing of toasted walnuts and blue cheese is a taste sensation.
BLUE CHEESE AND WALNUTS
Remember how you just had me saying pick your own cheese? If you can’t decide, I say go blue, and I ain’t talking about University of Michigan football team. Having tested the recipe with a number of cheeses, I highly recommend a beautiful Roquefort, Cabrales (Spanish) or Stilton. Something magical happens when one of these glorious blues pairs with toasted walnuts, as we’ve done in this recipe. The words sublime, incredible and fantastic all come to mind.
VINAIGRETTE
The ratio of oils to vinegar in this vinaigrette follows the expected 2:1. In this case, the slightly sweet flavouring of the sherry vinegar is softened when blended with the walnut / vegetable oil combination. Take your time making the vinaigrette, drizzling the oils in slowly and whisking them into the vinegar to emulsify. Use the entire quantity of this superior vinaigrette to dress the salad. If you can’t find the sherry vinegar, substitute it with apple cider vinegar, rice wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar; something with a bit of sweetness.
Toss the baby spinach and fennel in your salad bowl before adding the walnuts, cheese and vinaigrette.
LARGE SALAD BOWL
Using a large salad bowl to gently toss the salad ensures every bite will be both pleasing and memorable. One minor suggestion; follow our lead and toss the baby spinach and shaved fennel first, then add the vinaigrette, walnuts and cheese. Doing so helps all of the elements meld together.
Serve the salad immediately after tossing it together.
SERVE
It won’t be hard to enjoy this SPINACH AND FENNEL SALAD. That said, you will need to decide whether to serve it as an appetizer, a side dish, or as the main course, perhaps served with a slice of fresh SOURDOUGH BREAD, our CHEDDAR BISCUITS or our crispy HOT SKILLET CORNBREAD. Just sayin’!
Sprinkle the salad with freshly cracked black pepper and a sprinkle of sea salt flakes… yum!
That’s all we’ve got, so over to you. Enjoy our SPINACH AND FENNEL SALAD WITH WALNUTS AND CHEESE!
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Ingredients
4 cups baby spinach, washed and spun dry
1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly shaved
½ cup walnut pieces
½ cup crumbled blue cheese (Feta, goat’s cheese or Parmesan will work too!)
For the vinaigrette
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
2 vegetable oil
2 tablespoons walnut oil
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Garnish
sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Toast walnuts in a small skillet on moderate heat for about 5 minutes, tossing every minute or so. Set aside.
Prepare vinaigrette: Pour vinegar into medium bowl, season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and stir to combine. In a second bowl, stir the oils together. Slowly drizzle oils into vinegar, whisking constantly to emulsify.
Assemble salad: Place spinach and shaved fennel in large salad bowl and toss to combine. Add walnuts and cheese and drizzle with vinaigrette. Toss lightly. Transfer to salad or luncheon-sized plates. Garnish with a sprinkle of black pepper and sea salt flakes, if desired. Serve immediately.
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