Spinach Salad with Cheese, Walnuts and Raisins

AZ Cookbook | Spinach Salad with Walnuts

My spinach repertoire continues. This time I added a spinach salad I learned from my dear friend Asli. They came over for dinner the other day. The table was set… but I was missing a salad. I had a bag of baby spinach sitting in my refrigerator and Asli suggested we make spinach salad with walnuts, cheese and apples. The husbands protested against having apples in the salad (cultural thing?), so we ended up using cheese and walnuts only. Asli tossed the salad with some olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice, and it made a perfect accompaniment to our mostly carnivorous table. I made the salad many times after that, changing it slightly along the way (such as adding raisins), and wanted to share it with you. You can increase or decrease the amount of ingredients to your taste. The salad is quick, simple, delicious and nutritious. Isn’t it what we all want sometimes?

SPINACH SALAD WITH CHEESE, WALNUTS AND RAISINS

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Serves 4


INGREDIENTS

1 bag (6 oz / 170 g) baby spinach (if leaves are too big, chop them coarsely), washed and dried
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese or any other white cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/3 cup golden raisins

For the Dressing
2 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon balsamic or apple cider vinegar (optional, but I love it in my salad)

1. In a large bowl, combine the olive oil with the lemon juice and vinegar if using.

2. Add the spinach, cheese, walnuts and raisins and toss thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (If you are using feta cheese, you don’t have to add salt to the salad since feta cheese is salty enough). Serve right away. Enjoy!

 

24 Comments

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  1. Perfect! I love the simplicity! You’re right about having this accompany a “meaty” meal. This will work well for all the grilling we do during the summer.

    xoxox Amy

  2. This looks great! I love this flavor combination!

  3. That is my kind of salad! We always have spinach salad, and I find that the simplest dressings are the best. The one I usually make is pretty much exactly like yours.

  4. Delicious salad – I love spinach.

  5. Hi Farida!

    This morning I woke up to see my little spinach salad recipe found a place in your blog. Actually, as I see it from the comments made here, it is known by many, and I got the recipe from my health freak friend, Cheah Ling! When you add an apple to this recipe and some fresh bread on side, it becomes a meal itself.

    Also, your blog has been very useful cooking source and a very pleasant read for me. I love the way you start your recipes, and it absolutely shows that you were an English major. 🙂 I entered my e-mail address for the subscription of your blog, so I will not miss any recipes. Lastly, I love the recipe index that provides quick access to all of your recipes!

    Happy eating, everybody!

  6. Amy, Gretchen, Elle, Patricia, Asli:

    Thank you for your comments. You can pretty much add anything available in your cupboard to the salad as long as there is spinach too:) Asli, thanks for being such a good friend!

  7. Feride’ci?im,
    gene nefis bir tarif paylasmissin.Ispanagi? hic bu sekilde denememistim.ellerine saglik.en kisa zamanda denemek istiyorum.Sevgiler

  8. Greetings Farida, Asli sent me this link and I was so happy to see her spinach salad here. This is a salad I have also made for years with a little variations. I like to put drained mandarin oranges in place of apples, and sometimes I use currants or cranberries or chopped apricots for the dried fruit component. The dressing of extra virgen olive oil and fresh lemon is my favorite for cooked spinach also. What a nice end of a hot day meal this is. Thanks, Vic

  9. Farida,
    I have stored much feta cheese and was thinking how to finish it. This spincah, we would take with pepper and lemon with some other veggies too. So will try this next time.. 🙂

  10. This is great! What a healthy and light dish. I agree with Amy, it’s going to be a tasty compliment to all of our summer grilling.

    Thanks for the recipe. BTW, the golden raisins are the perfect touch.

    Best of health to everyone. J

  11. Hulya: salatami begendiyine sevindim:) Kolay ve pratik. Afiyet olsun!

    Vic: Thanks for visiting my blog! Yes, you can add pretty much anything available at hand to spinach. I was tempted to empty my cupboard but stopped, thinking the simpler the better:) Please visit again!

    Seena: Yes, spinach is good with other veggies, too, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers. I think the possibilities for this salad are endless:)

  12. Jamie, thanks for stopping by. The golden raisins are a popular item in Azerbaijani cupboard, so I couldn’t ignore them.

    Oh, you have a nice blog I would recommend to my health-conscious readers!

  13. That is one of my favorite salads! Simple and delicious.

  14. I love these kinds of salads! 🙂 They make me happy. What also makes me really happy today is that you joined The Foodie Blogroll. You are the first blog we have about Azerbaijani food! So exciting! Sounds similar to many of the southern European/Middle Eastern cuisines of which I am so fond! So,

    Welcome to The Foodie Blogroll! 🙂
    Hope to see you on the forum as well!

  15. Elisabeth: Thank you for stopping by! I am glad you like the salad!

    Jenn: I am very excited to be a part of the foodie community! Thanks for adding me. See you in forums:)

  16. Simple, yet yummy. I sounds/looks so refreshing. I’ll try this with dried blueberries (because I don’t like raisins, oddly enough).

  17. This salad looks delicious! I love the combination of ingredients!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  18. I was lovely! I added the apple and dressed it with a chilli, garlic, ginger, honey and orange juice dressing (no oil) that I had prepared for something else.

    It made a lovely lunch on its own with butternut soup. Great for those dieting days! Add some good bread for people who are hungry.

  19. Joy: yes, blueberries would go in the salad just as well. i like their taste, too.

    Rosa: Rosa, thank you!

    Scotchcart: thanks for visiting! I am going to try it with apples, too.

  20. Hi Farida! saw you on the Food Blogroll and decided to visit your site 🙂 I love spinach, unfortunately the kind that we have in the Philippines can not be dressed in this way :/ but I love your pics, just looking at it makes me feel full. Thanks for posting it! I am going to save your recipe for future reference 🙂

  21. Hi Nini, thank you for visiting my blog.Glad you like it! It’s encouraging me to do a better job:) Please visit again!

  22. I have some dried apricots, walnuts and goat cheese kicking around at home – all I need is the spinach! Can’t wait to try this!

  23. Hey Thanks Farida, thats my pleasure. U r most welcome. i really like ur recipes and ur recipe picture too.. next time i make it a point to visit ur blog when i search for any recipe. i will bookmark it 🙂

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