In today's morning rush to get to work, I forgot to cobble together a lunch. As such, noon saw me visit the salad bar restaurant in the food court. There, I picked up a small rectangular clam shell and added two small blocks of unidentified white cheese, a slice of poached chicken, two spoonfuls of a quinoa salad, two spoonfuls of avocado salad, and a tong full of spinach salad (spinach leaves, dressed with salt, served with thinly sliced red onion). Price: $4.75

Like my better half, I rarely eat salad and prefer my greens cooked. That is, unless they accompany a sandwich. When it comes to spinach leaves, I prefer they be slightly wilted in a hot pan with a tablespoon of a neutral oil (e.g. canola), a pinch of kosher salt, and two finely chopped cloves of garlic. No fuss. No muss.

I am however, open to new recipes to broaden my spinach repertoire. Here are two preparations that I have gathered, but have not yet tried.

The first recipe makes a Classic Mandarin Orange Salad. It was given to me by a wonderful lady named Margaret. I do not know her nearly well enough to call her Marg as her friends and co-workers do. What I can say is that she is extremely healthy and runs marathons on a whim. She is also well respected and highly spoken of by her colleagues.

The picture is of a prepared spinach salad, using a similar recipe from tasteofhome.com.

Margaret's Classic Mandarin Orange Salad
Dressing
What you will need:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp granulated white sugar
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• few drops of tobasco

Method:
Place all ingredients in bowl and whisk to combine.

Salad
What you will need:

• Handful of slivered almonds
• 2 tbsp of granulated sugar
• 2-3 stalks of celery
• 2-3 stalks of young green onion (aka: scallions)
• 1-2 lb of prepared mixed greens
• 1 can mandarin oranges
• One batch of dressing (above)

Method:

1. Place a fry pan on medium heat and add both the slivered almonds and granulated sugar to the pan
2. Cook the almonds in the sugar until the sugar melts and the almonds are coated
3. Place the slivered almonds into a large bowl
4. Slice the celery and green onion finely. The reason they are not prepared before hand is because the almonds need time to cool. Else, they may wilt the greens.
5. Add the sliced celery and green onions to the bowl
6. Add the mixed greens to the bowl
7. Drain the mandarin oranges and add them to the bowl
8. Toss gently
9. Slowly drizzle the dressing over the salad and dress conservatively. Do not worry if there is leftover dressing. It should sit well in the fridge.
10. Serve

I was fortunate enough to sample this salad (made with a mesculin mixture) at a Canada Day barbecue two years back. I remember the sweet and sour flavors playing extremely well with the peppery greens. The celery and slivered almonds gave every odd bite a nice crunch. According to allrecipes.com, young spinach leaves can substituted for mixed greens in similar salads.

And here is something from an oddly rendering web page, belonging to Chef Wolfgang Puck: fried spinach leaves.

According to my director's former assistant, fried spinach leaves are Asian and she had them last at a Chinese restaurant. While I've seen chefs on the food network deep fry basil leaves to use as garnishes, I have never seen deep fried spinach. Apparently, it comes out very crispy and flavourful.

Deep Fried Spinach Leaves
What You Will Need:

• 1/2 pound young spinach leaves
• neutral oil for deep frying (e.g. canola oil)
• Kosher salt for seasoning

Method:

1. Clean the spinach leaves well, drain and dry thoroughly. Running the spinach through a salad spinner would be ideal.
2. In a high walled stainless steel pot, heat about 3 inches of a neutral oil to 375­F.
3. Add spinach in batches.
4. Submerge each batch with either a slotted spoon or oriental spider and fry for approximately 1-2 minutes
5. Remove when the spinach darkens
6. Gently place the spinach on a wire cake rack over newspaper to drain.
7. Season with salt to taste and serve immediately.

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