Baby Spinach Salad With Dates and Almonds

Baby Spinach Salad With Dates and Almonds
Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
5(870)
Comments
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Sumac, a tart, deep-red spice, is a key ingredient for this recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi, which was featured in a Times article about his cookbook with Sami Tamimi, “Jerusalem.” Procuring the spice may be the most challenging thing about this refreshing, well-balanced salad. The pita and almonds are cooked for a few minutes on the stovetop, but that is the only heat required. As for the sumac, it can be found at Middle Eastern groceries, in a well-stocked spice aisle or, as always, online. —Julia Moskin

Featured in: ‘Jerusalem’ Has All the Right Ingredients

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Ingredients

Yield:4 to 6 servings
  • 1tablespoon wine vinegar
  • ½medium red onion, thinly sliced
  • ounces dates (100 grams), preferably Medjool, pitted and quartered lengthwise
  • Salt
  • 2tablespoons unsalted butter (30 grams)
  • 2tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 2small pitas (about 3½ ounces, or 100 grams), roughly torn into 1½ -inch pieces
  • ½cup whole unsalted almonds (75 grams), coarsely chopped
  • 2teaspoons sumac
  • ½teaspoon chile flakes
  • 5 to 6ounces baby spinach leaves (150 grams)
  • 2tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)

232 calories; 15 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 23 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 13 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 210 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Put vinegar, onion and dates in a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt and mix well with your hands. Leave to marinate for 20 minutes, then drain any residual vinegar and discard.

  2. Step 2

    Meanwhile, heat butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add pita and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring all the time, until pita is golden. Add almonds and continue cooking until pita is crunchy and browned and almonds are toasted and fragrant, about 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and mix in sumac, chile flakes and ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside to cool.

  3. Step 3

    When ready to serve, toss spinach leaves with pita mix in a large mixing bowl. Add dates and red onion, remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, the lemon juice and another pinch of salt. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately.

Ratings

5 out of 5
870 user ratings
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Comments

For all who wonder, this is the best foolproof salad EVER! It is the kind of salad you start eating and then can't stop (Can salad really be like that?) I use left over pita from the Persian restaurant we frequent. Even days after, that pita works perfectly. I will say, storage for the pita chip mix is finicky. I stored it once for days, and then once the chips went soft. I think be sure to have an airtight container.

4th of July in Boston, so going to mkt not feasible, but really wanted to test this recipe. So ... needs must — substituted zaatar for sumac [it's mostly sumac anyway] and harissa for chile flakes. The result was total YUM!

This is wonderful, as are so many of the recipes in "Jerusalem." Instead of chopping almonds, I just buy slivered ones. And I don't quite use as much spinach, as I like a higher proportion of the date/onion mix.
Also use white wine vinegar (recipe here doesn't specify which to use, but book says "white"), which is partially seasoned rice vinegar.

This is the most versatile salad! I didn’t have sumac, I had wintered over mature spinach (not tender baby spinach), I forgot the chili flakes. I added some halved cherry tomatoes and crumbled blue cheese because I had them and the salad was delicious.

Enjoyed this salad! One curious thing is that the dates&onions sucked up all the vinegar. Took direction from an earlier note and took the shortcut of using the pita chips (just because I had them on hand). Looking forward to trying again and starting from scratch with pita bread to make pita chips. I wondered if it would come out since the "dressing" of olive oil and lemon juice is minimal - but it worked. A little here (vinegar/onions&dates) and a little there (butter/olive oil&bread) .

This was wonderful! Served with NYTC garlic butter steak bites. It was perfect sweet and tangy side note ! Used store bought pita chips..worked great!

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Credits

Adapted from “Jerusalem: A Cookbook” by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi (Ten Speed Press, 2012)

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