Lately I have been eating a lot of bread. In part it’s because of the weather, the cold bringing with it a craving for comforting, filling fresh bread, but in truth it’s mostly because I am a total bread fiend and am currently completely obsessed with sourdough. So today I’ve decided to buck my current habit of a bread filled lunch and bring a bit of freshness into the day with a lovely spinach orange salad with nut crusted goat’s cheese!
This salad was mostly inspired by these lovely oranges that are available at the moment. They’re calling them Jaffa Reds. I think they’re a type of blood orange. They’re lovely; juicy, sweet, and ranging in colour from orange with red flecks to deep blood red.
Oranges and baby spinach (or any spinach for that matter) are a lovely pairing, not just because the flavours complement each other so well, but also because when you eat iron loaded spinach, it’s iron content becomes more easily absorbed when consumed with vitamin C.
As for the goat’s cheese…well… I love goat’s cheese. I love it’s creamy slightly tangy taste, and oozy texture when warmed. It’s also higher in vitamins K, D and phosphorus than other cheeses, is probiotic, and is far less acidic than it’s cow’s milk counterpart, especially when combined with alkaline forming oranges! Roll that goodness in protein packed, healthy fat wielding nuts, and it’s a delicious, oozy, super nourishing addition to your salad.
This salad is delicious, more so than I had even anticipated…delicious enough, in fact, to equal the starchy lure of fresh bread for lunch. Hooray!
- 125g log of soft goat’s cheese, sliced into 6 rounds
- 50g or 1/4 cup mixed chopped nuts (I used walnut and almond)
- 2 Tbsp tapioca or rice flour (or plain flour if you’d prefer)
- 1 egg, beaten
- About 100 - 150g or 2 1/2 - 3 cups baby spinach, washed
- 1/2 a large orange, skin and pith removed, sliced into rings or segments
- Juice of 1/2 a large orange
- 1 tsp oil (rapeseed or mild olive oil)
- 1/2 tsp cider vinegar
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and brush a baking tray lightly with oil.
- Blitz the nuts until fairly fine with just a few small chunks left.
- Working one at a time, dip the slices of cheese into the flour and then shake off the excess before dipping them into the beaten egg. Make sure their evenly covered and then dip them into the nuts and roll around to make sure their covered on all sides. Set them on the prepared baking tray. Once they’re all prepared, set the tray in the oven for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is just starting to ooze out of the nuts and sizzle a bit. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for a few minutes while you prepare the rest of the salad.
- To make the dressing, mix the juice, oil, and vinegar together well until well incorporated.
- Arrange the spinach on two or three plates, top with orange and either two pieces of the goat cheese (for 3 smaller sized servings) or three (for 2 meal sized servings). Drizzle over the dressing and serve immediately.