Spinach Salad with feta, red grapes, and a raspberry wine vinaigrette

The first thing we ate, after cracking open a bottle of red, was the spinach salad. I don't have any photos of the making of this, because I think you all know how a salad gets tossed together, right?

I do want to show you a picture of the giant container of organic spinach that I scored from Hmart (the closest Korean grocery store to me) for about $8. I'd already used half of it for salad, but still. Two pounds of spinach, y'all! 

 There's no real tricks to this recipe that pictures could help with, so I'll show you a blurry picture of a bowl of the finished product before giving you the recipe. (Disclaimer: My camera will have new batteries soon, so please forgive a few blurry pictures).

This salad has some great flavors that naturally pair well together—spinach, feta, and grapes—how can you go wrong? You really can't. You can halve the grapes if you have the time and you think the people you're serving may accidentally hoover one and choke to death. I used raspberry wine vinegar in the dressing, because that's what I wanted to use up. This versatile dressing works equally well (maybe better) with red wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar.

I like adding the vinaigrette to the salad myself, tossing it by hand so that each component is well-dressed. You can, I suppose, allow people to pour for themselves, but it just won't be as tasty. I don't have any scientific evidence that this is true, but, I think the Korean concept of son mat (손맛) plays a role.  

Son mat literally means "the taste of one's hands." Cooking things by hand—cutting, mixing, stirring—just makes the food taste better. There's love in your hands when you're using them to cook for friends and family and I think it shows. I only recently learned the word (thanks, Korean dramas!) but I realized the concept was instilled in me by my Korean mom since I was a wee one, watching her cook. Call me crazy, but I believe in this completely. Thanks, Mom. <3



Spinach Salad with Feta, Red Grapes, and Raspberry Wine Vinaigrette

This is a great first course, tangy and light. However, I do think this would make a great meal all on its own if you added some grilled chicken and/or walnuts (toasted if you have the time). 

Ingredients:

12-16 oz    fresh spinach (washed and dried—drying it is important!)
    1/4 lb     red seedless red grape
    2-3 oz    feta cheese, crumbled (goat cheese works well too)
                 Raspberry Wine Vinaigrette, to taste (recipe below)

Prepare the vinaigrette.

Combine the first three ingredients in a large mixing bowl, mixing by hand (remember son mat!). Dress the salad with the vinaigrette according to your own taste. Leave out a few of the grapes and top the salad with them, if you care about aesthetics.

Serve soon after dressing, because the vinaigrette will start the process of wilting your greens pretty quickly.

Raspberry Wine Vinaigrette

This recipe will give you more vinaigrette than you'll need for the salad, but I assume you'll be resourceful with what's leftover and use it for future salads. It stores well in the fridge, just give it a good shake to remix.

2/3 cup     extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup     vinegar (raspberry wine is the type I used this time, but red wine and apple cider
                 are great too)
2 cloves    garlic, minced (break out the garlic press if you have it!)
2 tbsp       sugar (or 1 tbsp honey)
                 salt and pepper, to taste

Put all of the ingredients in a leak-proof, microwave-safe jar. Close the lid on the jar and shake it like a Polaroid picture, all my Beyonces and Lucy Lius. (Points for getting the reference!)

When the sugar is dissolved and the oil and vinegar are one, take the lid off the jar and nuke it in the microwave for about 1 minute. This accelerates the melding of the flavors. Let it cool down to room temperature, put the lid on it, and shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake that jar (and your booty, if you so choose). Mix some into your salad, et voilà! It's delicious.