I did the unthinkable (for a South Asian): I made a carb free dinner that my husband and I enjoyed! Inspired by some uber fresh baby spinach I got from the farmer’s market (yess I finally made it to one this year) and some random grapefruit I picked up at Trader Joe’s. I usually segment my grapefruit, douse it in salt (and a dash of sugar) and eat it plain. I wanted a zesty and a tad more healthy way of eating it. Thus, this salad. It’s pretty simple…next time I might add some toasted walnuts or sliced avocado.
I served it alongside Ina’s Asian Grilled Salmon (though I baked it in the oven for 15 min at 450 degrees instead) and asparagus (simply dressed in salt, pepper and olive oil for 7 minutes in the same oven). Color scheme, anyone?
Ingredients:
- 2 to 3 cups fresh baby spinach (rinsed really well)
- 1 grapefruit, segmented
- the juice from the remaining grapefruit
- 3/4 of a green chili, minced
- 1 tbsp chopped cilantro (though mint would work well in this)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- dash pepper
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp agave nectar (could substitute with honey)
Directions
Arrange spinach on a plate or in salad bowl. Top with grapefruit segments. For the vinaigrette, combine the remaining ingredients in separate bowl. Adjust the amount of chili used according to preference. Pour over salad and serve with a fresh sprinkling of fine sea or kosher salt on top.
This was the best non South-Asian salad I ever had. That’s not to say South-Asian salads in general taste worse / better than the non South-Asian ones. Thinking about it more, these two types of salads don’t really compare – its like apples and oranges.