Pretty pluots team with spinach and pecans in summer salad
Recipe: Pluot-spinach salad with fig balsamic vinaigrette
(Photos: Debbie Arrington) |
Pluots, a cross between plums and apricots, offer the sweet juicy flavor of their parents. But unlike most plums and apricots, pluots tend to stay crisp longer instead of turning mushy soft.
That makes them ideal for salads. My favorite salad pluot is Emerald Drop. This variety has attractive bright green skin and, when ripe, honey gold flesh. When juicy ripe, it still retains its crunch. That adds texture as well as flavor and color to cool summer salads.
Slices of Emerald Drop pluots look particularly attractive tossed with fresh spinach. Raisins and pecans add more texture (and just a little more sweetness). The fig balsamic vinaigrette pulls it all together.
Other pluot varieties will work, too, as will firm apricots or plums or a combination of both. After all, isn’t that when plouts are – a combination of both?
Pluot-spinach salad
Makes 2 large or 4 side servings
Ingredients:
2 large firm pluots
¼ cup raisins
These are Emerald Drop pluots, but other varieties or apricots
or plums will work in the salad.
|
¼ cup pecans, chopped
3 cups spinach
For dressing:
1 tablespoon fig balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions:
Wash and pit pluots. Cut fruit into thin slices. Put in a large mixing bowl.
Add raisins and pecans to the bowl.
Prepare dressing. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine balsamic vinegar, olive oil, white wine, sugar, salt and pepper. Shake to combine.
Drizzle dressing over fruit and nut mixture in bowl. Toss gently to coat fruit.
Wash spinach and pat dry. Add to fruit and nut mixture. Toss gently to combine.
Serve immediately.