Strawberry Spinach Salad

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
23 minutes
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

Strawberry Spinach Salad

  • ¾ cup Raw Walnuts
  • ½ small Red Onion thinly sliced into half moons
  • 10 oz. Fresh Baby Spinach washed and dried
  • 1 lb. Fresh Strawberries hulled and sliced
  • ¾ cup Block Feta Cheese crumbled

Poppy Seed Dressing

  • ¼ cup Granulated Sugar
  • ¼ cup White Vinegar
  • ¾ tsp. Fine Sea Salt
  • 1 tsp. Mustard
  • 1 tsp. Onion Powder
  • cup Vegetable Oil
  • ½ tbsp. Poppy Seeds

Instructions
 

Strawberry Spinach Salad

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F.
  • Roughly chop the walnuts and bake for 6-8 minutes, or until toasted. Be sure to keep an eye on them, because nuts go from toasted to burnt quickly.
  • When you remove the nuts from the oven, transfer them to a dish (they’ll keep cooking if you leave them on the hot baking sheet).
  • Thinly slice the red onion into half moon slices and then submerge the onion slices in a medium sized bowl of ice cold water. Let the onions soak in the water until it’s time to assemble the rest of the salad (about 20 minutes of soaking is generally the perfect amount of time). Soaking the onions allows the pungent onion flavor to dissipate into the water.
  • Wash and dry the spinach using a salad spinner. Place the spinach in an extra large mixing bowl.
  • Wash, dry, hull, and slice the strawberries. Add to the mixing bowl.
  • Add the toasted walnuts, soaked onions, and crumbled feta to the mixing bowl. Top with the poppy seed dressing and toss to combine.

Poppy Seed Dressing

  • Combine the sugar, vinegar, salt, mustard, and onion powder in a blender. Blend until combined.
  • Pour the oil in very slowly while the blender is going. Make sure not to add too much oil at once or it won’t emulsify correctly. If you don’t have a blender with an opening in the lid, you’ll have to turn the blender off every time you need to add a little more oil.
  • Transfer the dressing to a small bowl or storage container. Stir in the poppy seeds.

Notes

Wait to dress the salad until immediately before serving.
The dressing will keep for up to 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge, but the salad is best made fresh.