Creamy Spinach Salad

I’m excited about this post! It’s another one of my experiments in the kitchen that turned out to be a keeper! But before we get into that let me give you a back story… 

Yesterday was one exceptional day. We experienced spring in February. It was unbelievable! The day started foggy but just before noon, the clouds parted and gave way to the sun. It was about 15 degrees. It would be a shame to not go outside. So I strapped my girls in the bike stroller and went for an afternoon walk downtown without having to wear a jacket. I even broke a sweat pushing them. It’s about 40 minute walk there and back. Snow’s melting and making puddles in the sidewalks. My toddler who insisted on walking home couldn’t resist jumping on them. Her baby sister fell asleep on our way back. Shortly after we reached the house, my husband came home from work, and we all went straight to the grocery store to do some shopping. By the time we got home, it was 6:30 already and I still have to make supper.

I knew we have a frozen bag of shrimp somewhere in the freezer so I grabbed that. I didn’t feel like making anything elaborate. I want us to eat supper before 7. So I ended up making a HUGE salad which turned out to be SO good that I had to make it again for lunch today.

When I say huge salad, I mean literally! I used 2 salad bowls, one for him, and one for me. Not just individual dish bowls (that would be too small for us) but salad serving bowls. The one you use for serving salad to the rest of your family, and guests if you happen to have one. See what I mean by BIG EATERS?

And because my husband and I are BIG eaters, eating just a plain salad would be a torture! We need our meat!!! So on top of a bag of shrimp, I also boiled up 7 large eggs. I wish I had taken a photo of our massive bowls of salad sitting side by side. But I didn’t even thought of it until they were half gone. And when my husband said “this is a really great salad”, I knew I had to share it with you guys.

So here I am!

With a hammering headache, I am blogging this amazing salad which I think is now my new favourite! For those of you who don’t like fruits in your salad, this is for you!

The measurements on this recipe is good for a smaller salad bowl (this is what I had for lunch. I paused and took a quick photo before I devoured it). The size of the salad bowl is still good for 2 or 3 people to share if you are eating this as a side dish.

So let’s get to it. Shall we?

CREAMY SPINACH SALAD

Ingredients:

• Handfuls of baby spinach
• 1 med.-large size tomato, diced
• 1/3 cucumber, skin on, chopped
• 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
• tiger shrimps
• 1 tbsp. minced garlic
• Panko bread crumbs
• 1 tbsp. butter
• Dried parsley (optional)

For Salad Dressing:

• 1 heaping tbsp. Hellmann’s mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp. Kikkoman rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp. granulated white sugar
• a few drops of Sriracha hot sauce

Instructions:

1. Pan fry as much shrimp as you want in a non-stick pan with melted butter. When shrimps are turning pink, add garlic. When garlic starts changing colour, sprinkle a generous amount of Panko breadcrumbs into the mix. Season it with salt. Fry until the breadcrumbs turn crispy and golden brown. Set aside.
2. In a salad bowl, add handfuls of baby spinach. Top it off with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, eggs, and shrimps.
3. Mix together mayonnaise, rice vinegar, sugar and sriracha hot sauce in a separate bowl. (I just used a regular tablespoon when making this dressing). Whisk until sugar is dissolved and drizzle on top of the salad using a spoon.
4. (Optional) Sprinkle dried parsley. Serve!

Tips:  I wouldn’t use Mayomagic as a substitute. I find that Mayomagic is more on the sour side than Hellmann’s, so your dressing will yield a different result.

Enjoy! 🙂

Disclaimer: I don’t normally use measuring spoons/cups when I cook. Unless I’m baking of course. Cooking is more of an art. So when I cook, I usually just eyeball things. The key is to taste your food while you cook, and adjust your spices as your taste buds dictate. What maybe sweet for me, may not be the case for you. Hence, the lack of measurements on my recipes. I will leave that up to you. All the necessary ingredients (and tips!) however will be provided.

Happy experimenting cooking!

Zhi