Red & Green Warm Spinach Salad ♥

Today's Christmas-y salad recipe: Quick sautéed spinach with a garlicky yogurt sauce, toasted walnuts, pomegranate seeds and fresh mint. Low carb.

And isn't it festive and pretty?! And the unexpected combination of ingredients - spinach, mint, walnuts, pomegranate seeds and yogurt - somehow really work.

This salad has a lot of parts but luckily they're not 'moving parts' and if you're inspired to serve this for a holiday meal -- it has the right colors, yes? -- all but the last step could be done in advance.

The recipe comes from Street Food by Tom Kime, what's turning out to be a real treasure. I love the irony that a street-side specialty called 'salatet bil s'banegh joz' somewhere in the Middle East or north Africa (the book doesn't say where) is also perfect for a dinner party salad.

For everyday, I'd omit the walnuts, pomegranate seeds and mint, leaving just the quick-cooked spinach topped with the garlicky yogurt sauce.

Delicious, this was!

MAKE IT A MEAL with Beef & Mushroom Stew and potatoes.

RED & GREEN WARM SPINACH SALAD

Hands-on time: 30 minutes to prep ahead, 10 minutes to finish
Time to table: 40 minutes
Serves 4

PREP AHEAD
1/4 cup walnut pieces - toast in a dry skillet til golden & aromatic
seeds from 1/2 a pomegranate (The Quick & Easy Way to Remove Seeds from a Pomegranate)
20 fresh mint leaves - chop coarsely
Yogurt garlic sauce - Mash a clove of garlic into salt with a fork, stir into 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (I used the more liquid keffir, it was perfect)

1/2 pound fresh spinach leaves - wash well, remove stems, chop roughly, drain

JUST BEFORE SERVING
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
Chopped spinach
Salt & pepper to taste

Heat the oil til shimmery in a large skillet. Add the onion and let cook til aromatic and beginning to turn gold. Add the spinach and cook, turning occasionally, til just tender. Season with salt & pepper.

TO ASSEMBLE
Lift spinach with tongs from skillet, letting excess liquid stay in the pan. Arrange spinach on plates or a serving tray. Drizzle with yogurt garlic sauce, then scatter with walnuts and mint. Top with pomegranate seeds.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE
As written, Per Serving: 178 Cal (68% from Fat, 10% from Protein, 21% from Carb); 5 g Protein; 14 g Tot Fat; 3 g Sat Fat; 6 g Mono Fat; 10 g Carb; 3 g Fiber; NetCarb7; 5 g Sugar; 81 mg Calcium; 3 mg Iron; 343 mg Sodium; 6 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 4 points

Skipping the walnuts & pomegranate seeds, Per Serving: 117 Cal (70% from Fat, 11% from Protein, 19% from Carb); 4 g Protein; 10 g Tot Fat; 2 g Sat Fat; 5 g Mono Fat; 6 g Carb; 2 g Fiber; NetCarb4; 2 g Sugar; 73 mg Calcium; 2 mg Iron; 342 mg Sodium; 6 mg Cholesterol; Weight Watchers 2 points

MORE FAVORITE SPINACH RECIPES
~ Creamed Spinach ~
~ Orzo with Spinach & Pine Nuts ~
~ Spinach & Artichoke Gratin (also red & green) ~
~ Baked Eggs with Cream & Spinach (a good choice for Christmas morning) ~
~ MORE spinach recipes ~

~ one year ago this week Carrot & Daikon Refrigerator Pickle (great to make ahead to keep on hand for quick lunches and sandwiches) ~
~ two years ago today Warm Pepper Salad (hmm, this could be red & green too!) ~

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