Arugula Salad with Grapes, Gorgonzola, and Apricot-Fennel Dressing

This is a recipe my mom procured from a friend after being served this salad, an excellent indicator of the dish's credibility (and I might add these particular friends who have great taste in most things). Recipe unseen, she had to have it.

Fortunately, our friends were more than willing to share this gem of a recipe and gave us a copy from their Cook's Illustrated Cookbook.

It's an easy recipe to put together and has wonderful flavors. I love the apricot jam and fennel, I think these ingredients are less intuitively matched with the other flavors here, which is why this is somewhat of a show-stopper salad. The kind of salad someone will ask, "What is in this?!" And my mom did.

The dressing is key to the flavors of this salad. Combine the following:

• 4 teaspoons apricot jam
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small shallot, finely minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper 

The Dressing

Next, chop the fennel fronds (leafy greens) to amount to about a 1/2 cup.

If you have a fennel bulb, dice it into small pieces and include them as well.

Add the fennel to the dressing 15-20 minutes before serving, you don't want it to wilt too much.

Finally, combine dressing and fennel with:

• 1 cup red seedless grapes, cut in half
• 1/2 cup toasted, chopped pecans
• 3/4 cup gorgonzola or blue cheese
• 8 cups arugula

Grapes, Dressing, Pecans, and Fennel from Mom's garden

Toss and serve. You may not think it looks like much but your tastebuds will beg to differ...this salad possesses an elegance of simplicity.

Another Reason for Popeye (and You) to Eat Spinach

http://bornbackwards.com

Put down the can, Popeye, we've got a better spinach recipe for you to try. Really though, spinach is one of my favorite greens to have on hand to make any of the following recipes quickly.

It can be served raw in salads with apples, walnuts, cranberries, a little feta or goat cheese, and a balsamic vinagrette, for example.

Or, my favorite, sauteed.
Heat the skillet to medium-high, add copious amounts of spinach (it cooks down to nothing), drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with seasoned salt and you've got yourself a winner. Let it cook until the spinach wilts and the olive oil and spices are well distributed. This is a great side to any meat dish, or combined with fresh tomatoes.

Another favorite sauteed spinach dish: on medium-high heat, combine spinach, olive oil, thinly sliced apples, red onion, salt, pepper, and cheddar. Saute until the spinach is wilted and the apples are cooked. The cheddar can be added after you've taken it off the heat or at the end so that it melts a little.
Ta-dah! No more boring spinach.