I don't tend to get homesick often, but I miss San Francisco. For those of you who haven't visited San Francisco, it is an incredible destination with some of the best food, hiking, and, honestly, weather. There is something for everyone! My favorite pizza place is Zachary\'s Pizza. They have deep dish that I think can hold its own with Chicago's best pizza and for me a lot of memories celebrating with my friends and family. One of my favorite items was their spinach salad. It is simple, tasty, and has a nice bite. So in honor of Zachary's and the need to post something that is a bit more green, this is my version of Zachary's spinach salad.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of spinach
- ~1 cup of croutons
- 1.5 cups of halved cherry tomatoes
- parmesan cheese or crumbled feta cheese (depending on your preferences)
- Bacon bits (optional)
- 1 red onion (minced)
Method: The spinach salad has three components: the salad, the dressing, and the croutons. I can't recommend it enough especially with homemade croutons.
The Dressing
- Combine about 1:3/4 ratio of white wine vinegar to olive oil in a bowl. I would recommend about 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar to 6 tablespoons of extra virgin or virgin olive oil.
- In that bowl, I would add about a tablespoon of really good quality dijon mustard.
- Mix the dressing thoroughly and add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside for later
Croutons
- Probably the easiest and best part of the salad. There is nothing that compares to homemade croutons from a sourdough loaf of bread. If you are the lucky few that live in San Francisco, you have some of the best sourdough bread at your disposal. Baking sourdough bread will be for another day. I tend to cut loaves into quarters down the middle. For the croutons, I use about a 1/4 of a loaf depending on how many people I am serving salad for or making more and saving them for later. If it is a large salad, then you want about 1 inch slices of bread and then cutting that bread into smaller pieces.
- In a large mixing bowl, place the pieces of stale or fresh bread. Add about a tablespoon of garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Also 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- Mix the bread crumbs in the bowl thoroughly and place all the pieces on a tray.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Place the trays of bread in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the croutons are golden brown. Let them sit and serve with the salad.
Salad
- Combine 1 minced onion, 2-3 cups of spinach, a cup of croutons, about 1-1.5 cups of halved cherry tomatoes, and some shaved parmesan cheese or crumbled feta cheese depending on what you like. True to Zachary's form, you can always add bacon bits. Mix the salad with the dressing and serve immediately. Like I said, it is a very simple salad to make. Honestly, it is more fun to have homemade croutons.