Updated Spinach Salad with Honey-Lime and Roasted Eggs
We'll be the first to admit that there's really not much one could do to improve upon a classic Spinach Salad. But there's no harm in experimenting, now, is there? In this version, we tried to mimic the sweetness of the traditional dressing by using honey instead of sugar, and changing the mustard-y tang to a citrus-y one by using fresh lime juice. (And our own Lemon Creamed Honey.) And we also wanted to have a little fun with the classic hard boiled eggs.
Instead of hard boiling our eggs, we roasted them by the dying embers of our kitchen fireplace. Before retiring for bed, we simply poked a tiny hole in both ends of several eggs, and buried them in the still warm ashes of the day's fire. They shouldn't directly touch any coals, mind you. Just warm ashes. They stayed tucked in their slightly warm blankets overnight, and by morning they were nicely "hard-roasted."
Well, maybe they weren't that nicely roasted. A few had exploded, and a few more had burnt. But that's okay. It was a fun experiment in a historical method of cooking eggs, and it did give them a brown color and smoky flavor that regular hard-boiled eggs can't claim. If you'd like to replicate, with less variables, try roasting whole eggs in your oven. Poke tiny holes in either end, and place eggs in a muffin tin. Roast in a 325 F oven for half an hour, then rinse under cool water and peel.
Ingredients
Fresh spinach (mature leaf, not baby.)
4 hard-roasted eggs, peeled, sliced in 1/2 inch slices (see above)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
4 Tablespoons best quality olive oil
2 Tablespoons Lemon Creamed Honey (if using regular honey, increase lime juice to 1/3 cup.)
1.5 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup finely chopped flat parsley
salt and pepper to taste
Wash, rinse and dry spinach leaves thoroughly. Remove any very thick stems and chop them into a coarse ribbons. (Slightly thicker than a chiffonade.) Divide spinach onto individual salad plates. Garnish with egg slices.
Combine rest of ingredients into mason jar with tight-fitting lid. Shake vigorously, salt to taste, and pour over spinach and eggs. Add additional ground pepper to taste.
Serve with:
12 Hour Fresh Ham with Gremolata
Pork Rib Roast with Caramel Orange Glaze
