Kumquat & Spinach Salad with Miso Olive Oil Dressing
Kumquats give this spinach salad an unexpected sweet-tart flavor pop and the miso dressing adds delicious umami to create a healthy and satisfying salad. Most miso dressings you get in the store are made with refined oils, but obviously, we're using EVOO instead! It's a great way to repurpose leftover chicken into something new too. Adapted from original recipe by the delightful Kim Pawell of Something New for Dinner. Serves 4.
Ingredients:
For candied kumquats:
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups sliced kumquats (slice each kumquat into 3 - 5 slices, depending on size of kumquat) or 3 cups whole kumquats (methods for both sliced and whole below)
For dressing:
- 2" peeled piece of ginger, sliced into 4 pieces
- 5 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 3 Tbsp white miso
- 1/2 cup natural rice wine vinegar, not seasoned
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 2 tsp toasted sesame seed oil
- 2 tsp Stonehouse Hot Chili or Habanero EVOO
- 3/4 cup Stonehouse House Blend or Olio Santo EVOO
For salad:
- 1 bag baby spinach
- 2 cups shredded poached or rotisserie chicken (sub chickpeas to make this vegetarian!)
- 1 red pepper, seeded and julienned into thin 2" strips
- 4 green onions, sliced diagonally, including green and white parts
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- 1 - 2 cups candied kumquats (instructions below)
- 1 handful of torn mint
Instructions:
For candied kumquats:
Sliced method-
- Using a very sharp knife slice the kumquats into thin slices, usually 3 - 5 slices per kumquat, depending on the size of the kumquat. Cut enough kumquats to get 2 cups of slices.
- Put one cup of sugar and one cup of water in a pan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. When sugar is dissolved, reduce heat to medium low and cook sugar water for 5 minutes.
- Remove from heat and add the kumquats. Allow kumquats to steep in the sugar water for an hour or more.
- Heat oven to 250 degrees. Remove kumquats from the syrup and place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes until the kumquat slices dry out a bit and just begin to color. Lift the kumquats from the pan and reserve in a covered bowl or jar until ready to use. Reserve the kumquat infused sugar water and use as simple sugar for cocktails. Can be made a week or two in advance.
Whole method-
- Pierce each whole kumquat with a fork two times on opposing sides.
- Put one cup of sugar and one cup of water in a pan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. When sugar is dissolved, add the kumquats to the sugar water mixture, return to a boil and then immediately reduce heat to medium-low to simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the kumquats to steep in the sugar water for at least 4 hours or over night before using. Kumquats should be stored in the syrup in a covered jar until ready to use.
- When ready to use lift the kumquats from the syrup, retaining the kumquat-flavored syrup for another use, such as making cocktails!
For Ginger, Garlic & Miso Dressing:
- Put ginger and garlic in a food processor or blender. Whirl to finely mince. Add remaining ingredients and whirl to blend. Dressing can be stored covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.
To Assemble Salad:
- Lay the spinach in the bottom of a wide, shallow salad bowl or platter. Arrange the chicken, red pepper, green onions, almonds, sliced candied kumquats and mint on top of the spinach.
- Drizzle with the Miso Olive Oil dressing and serve.
Recipes and photos all by the super talented Kim Pawell at Something New for Dinner. She's a big believer of the importance of home-cooked nutritious meals, and sitting down around the dinner table together. She created SNFD as a place to share the dinner recipes that she's prepared for her family for the last 25 years. Kim is also a wall art photographer and donates 10% of profits to World Central Kitchen. Check out her website for more!
