Apple Goat Cheese Spinach Salad with Citrus Dressing

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This apple goat cheese spinach salad with citrus dressing made its debut at a family Thanksgiving gathering. Thankfully, it was a hit. Nothing like using family to test out new recipes, but then again, I don’t think they mind helping out either. The citrus dressing flavors served on the salad also complimented the main dish: turkey. Win, win.

The Salad

Apple goat cheese spinach salad with citrus dressing can be served any time of year. The ingredients are readily available at Aldi, even the white wine vinegar. At least I’ve found it there lately. The pickled beets and goat cheese make this salad too. If you aren’t a fan of pickled beets, I’m sorry. If you are, you will be pleased with this ensemble.

An easy way I’ve found to toast walnuts is to warm a small skillet over medium heat. Then throw in a half cup of chopped walnuts. Set timer for three minutes. Stir occasionally. You’ll smell that wonderful toasted aroma around the three minute mark. Pull them off the heat immediately and pour the toasted walnuts onto a plate to cool. They can also be baked in the oven at 350° on a rimmed baking sheet for about 3-4 minutes.

A sweet, crisp apple works wonders for this recipe. Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, or Gala do well here. But locally grown apples taste 10 times better than conventional grocery-bought apples. Around here I prefer Doud’s Orchard for a Swiss Gourmet or Goldrush variety for this salad.

A note on spinach. I like to pinch off the spinach stems before assembling the salad. Just a preference. People are less likely to feel attacked by random stems as they lift fork fulls of salad to the mouth. Am I the only one who’s had awkward salad eating experiences with large stemmed leaves in the company of others? Stemless leaves seem to make eating fresh spinach easier for everyone.

The Citrus Dressing

You can use a jar to mix the dressing, but I love using my OXO Good Grips Salad Dressing Shaker. I’ve had for five years now and it’s great for mixing, storing and pouring.

The white wine vinegar is best, but if you’re in a pinch, white vinegar works too. I can now find white wine vinegar at Aldi (not sure if that is true all the time). Dijon mustard is a must. Honey is great, but if you don’t have it on hand, sugar or alternative sweetener works too. Cracked pepper (or conventional ground pepper) gives it a nice spicy addition to the sweet and tangy. Combine ingredients and shake well in a jar. You may need to add warmth to allow honey to fully dissolve.  If that’s so, set the jar of dressing ingredients in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes, then shake again. Makes about 1/3 cup of dressing.

Because I don’t usually have orange juice on hand (nor do I drink much of it), and because this dressing needs so little orange juice, I like to use fresh-squeezed juice from one orange. One orange yields about 1/4 cup. The perfect amount for this recipe. But bottled orange juice works fine too.

If you like this citrus dressing, try my Hawaiian dressing. It goes well with this Arabesque Spinach Salad.

Apple Goat Cheese Spinach Salad with Citrus Dressing from nickelplatekitchen.com

May 14, 2019

Servings: 6-8

Prep: 20 min

Difficulty: Easy

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Apple goat cheese spinach salad with citrus dressing brings a host of refreshing tangy flavors for a complimentary salad any time of year, especially with local orchard apples.

By: Elizabeth Newman

Ingredients

• FOR THE SALAD
• one 6 - 8 oz bag spinach, or other leafy green
• 1 cup chopped sweet apples such as Golden Delicious, Gala, or Honeycrisp
• one 4 oz roll of goat cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 cup sliced pickled beets
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
• FOR THE CITRUS DRESSING
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar (or white vinegar in a pinch)
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp honey (or sugar or alternative sweetener)
• 1/8 tsp cracked pepper

Directions

• Step 1 Pinch off stems of spinach and place spinach in a large serving bowl.
• Step 2 Pour dressing ingredients in a lidded jar and shake until all ingredients have dissolved. Use a warm water bath to help dissolve honey if needed. Makes about 1/3 cup of dressing.
• Step 3 Just before serving lightly dress the salad greens in the serving bowl.
• Step 4 Add half of the chopped apples, goat cheese, beets and walnuts, and lightly toss.
• Step 5 Top the salad with the remaining salad toppings.
• Step 6 Drizzle a little more citrus vinaigrette on top.
• Step 7 Serve immediately.

If you like this citrus dressing, try my Hawaiian dressing. It goes well with this Arabesque Spinach Salad.

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