It seems funny to think of now, as the weather finally warms into summer, but salad saved me all winter. In January, I was testing and retesting recipes for A Baker’s Dairy-Free Dozen, and scrambling to find some savories to subsist on amidst all the sweets. I’d grab some greens, then top them with everything in the fridge. Dressed in a vinaigrette (more often a citronette) of proper French proportions (one part vinegar to three parts of luscious, delicious olive oil), my hodgepodge salads satisfied me no matter how many sweets I’d just baked, no matter how many weird extras I’d found in the fridge.
Of course, in retrospect, this desperation counted as recipe testing, because I tried a whole lot of combinations. In the process, I made a couple discoveries and rediscoveries.That crispy bacon or toasted almonds make a salad great; and that together, they beat out croutons 96 percent of the time. That a half cup of quinoa adds phenomenal texture and a wallop of protein without turning your green salad into a quinoa salad. That avocado disappears into creamy oblivion, enriching every bite. And that if you use the proper amount of olive oil in a vinaigrette, you don’t need any sugar (though it’s still tasty to add a drizzle of good honey), because the good-for-you fat takes care of the puckery tang. That’s especially true when you have an olive oil as well-matched to its salad as California Olive Ranch Arbequina Olive Oil, which I used in this recipe. The oil is fruity (rather than grassy or spicy or another profile commonly found in oil), which picks up the sweetness of the apples and fennel.
If you, like me, love the following: greens, avocados, almonds, olive oil, and the thing that brings them all together-salad-then head over to enter the Salad Bowl Recipe Contest that California Olive Ranch is running in partnership with OXO, the California Avocado Commission, and California Almonds. You submit your best salad recipe, in the process qualifying to win great prizes. Enter ASAP, as the Salad Bowl Recipe Contest ends tomorrow night (May 20).
This post is sponsored by California Olive Ranch. Thanks for supporting the sponsors that keep Big Girls, Small Kitchen delicious!
