I was raised on
Popeye and Huckleberry Hound cartoons, and the former made quite an impression.
Every time I'd watch Popeye gain great strength from downing a can of spinach,
I was in awe. One day while shopping with my mother I spotted a can of spinach
in the grocery store, and begged her to buy it. She balked, but I
assured her that it would not go to waste, that I wanted to be strong like
Popeye and would eat the entire can. There had to be a lot of inward eye
rolling on her part when she put it into the cart, but she indulged me and that
evening heated it through and mounded a serving onto my plate. I was aghast!
This slimy, green mess looked more like something that we used to scrape off of
the bottom of the boat at season's end than something I'd actually want to eat, and I'm sorry to say I didn't
even try it.
Fast forward about ten years when bridge parties and spinach salads were all the rage, and once again I found a serving of spinach set before me, but this time I ate it hungrily. The spinach salad has taken on many forms since then, some quite complex, but none of them as good as the '70's original, served by bridge party hostesses everywhere. I found my mother's cryptically written recipe, managed a successful decoding, and offer it here. It is nutritious, and sooooo good.
Fast forward about ten years when bridge parties and spinach salads were all the rage, and once again I found a serving of spinach set before me, but this time I ate it hungrily. The spinach salad has taken on many forms since then, some quite complex, but none of them as good as the '70's original, served by bridge party hostesses everywhere. I found my mother's cryptically written recipe, managed a successful decoding, and offer it here. It is nutritious, and sooooo good.
Spinach Salad
1-1/2 lbs. fresh baby
spinach, washed and spun dry
¼ cup chopped red
onion
1/3 cup chopped
celery
1 cup grated sharp
cheddar cheese
4 hard cooked eggs,
chopped
Dressing
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon Tabasco
1 Tablespoon red
wine vinegar
½ cup mayonnaise
Combine spinach,
onion, celery, cheese, and egg; toss gently to combine.
Combine dressing
ingredients in the order listed. Pour
over salad, toss to combine, and serve immediately.
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Bonjour chère amie,
ReplyDeleteUne salade qui me séduit énormément et je suis certaine qu'elle doit être succulente rien qu'à admirer vos photos.
Gros bisous ♡
That looks so good - the dressing recipe sounds great!
ReplyDeleteCanned spinach used to be a regular on our school cafeteria menu. On those days the cafeteria ladies set out a little cruet of vinegar, but really, nothing helped. ;)
Pattie, I hope you bring this over to Food on friday. Cheers from carole's Chatter
ReplyDeleteI would still be sitting at the dinner table with that slimy mound in front of me to this day. Blech.
ReplyDeleteI do love the fresh spinach salads though. Yours is similar to what I often ordered in restaurants. The only difference I see is that ours always had a bit of crumbled bacon and didn't have any celery.
The newer version of the spinach salad that is one of my all time favourite salads is the one with strawberries and a poppy seed dressing.
Mmmm food.... I haven't had my breakfast yet, can you tell?
I love a good spinach salad...YUMMY!
ReplyDeleteThanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J & J!
This looks delish and I must try it....I love spinach salad. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi there, I too love a good spinach salad.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your moms recipe to make it.
Thanks for joining Cooking and Crafting with J&J.
We hope to see you again.
Julie
Looks delicious! Thanks for linking up to the Sundays Down under linky party. I just gave your post a +1 on Google.
ReplyDeleteLooks Yummy!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing at AMAZE ME MONDAY!
Blessings,
Cindy