Receta Secret Recipe Club: Roasted Spring Greens Salad with Hazelnuts and Pecorino
My Secret Recipe Club assignment this month is Angela, whose blog Spinach Tiger is full of inventive recipes full of fresh ingredients and vibrant flavours.
With literally hundreds of recipes in her repertoire, it was harder than usual to find a pick for this month. I briefly debated trying out her Spicy Shrimp, or her Lemon Olive Oil cake.
In the end, though, it was her recipe for Roasted Salad of Spring Greens, Hazelnuts, Pecorino that won me over… most because I was totally blown away by the idea of briefly roasting the greens in a blazing hot oven before tossing them with dressing.
After all, what isn’t improved by roasting, right?
This was definitely one of the more unusual dishes I’ve tried in my SRC adventures, but it was definitely still a hit.
The original recipe is incredibly simple and straightforward, which makes it easy to improve upon. My only change this time was to add slices of crisp barely-ripe pear to the mix, to add a crisp sweetness to contrast with the sharpness of the cheese and the slight bitterness of the wilted greens and hazelnuts.
Next time, I’m thinking I might add a handful of pomegranate arils or some dried cranberries for another layer of sweetness, and possibly roasting the greens just a bit less, since my salad was really quite wilted after 5 minutes (which isn’t bad, mind you, but it’s definitely not a texture I’m used to in salad).
Angela also recommends serving it with a poached egg on top, which is probably how I’ll serve it the next time I’m in need of a more substantial sort of salad. Everything is better with an egg on top, right?
Roasted Spring Greens with Hazelnuts and Pecorino
Recipe type: Side Dish
- Prep time: 10 mins
- Cook time: 6 mins
- Total time: 16 mins
- Serves: 4
- Ingredients
- 6 cups fresh spring mix (about 6 cups)
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tsp red wine vinegar
- 2 ounces pecorino romano cheese
- ½ cup toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
- 1 firm-ripe pear, thinly sliced
- Drizzle of good balsamic vinegar
- Sea Salt
- Black pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F.
Toss the greens with olive oil and vinegar, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss until evenly coated.
Arrange the greens in a shallow baking dish. Scatter with thin slices of pecorino cheese and chopped hazelnuts – the amounts above are a guideline only, so feel free to add more or less depending on your preferences.
Roast for 5-6 minutes at 400 degrees, then transfer to a large salad bowl. Add sliced pear and drizzle with balsamic, then toss again to mix everything together. Serve immediately.
Notes
Roasting the greens for 5-6 minutes yields a very soft and wilted salad. If you prefer your greens to be slightly less wilted, cut the roasting time in half.
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About the author
Isabelle Boucher
I'm a 30-something coffee-chugging, booty-shaking, bargain-shopping, cookbook-collecting, photo-snapping, trucker-swearing, farmers-market-loving self-taught cook with a Boy and two cats to feed.
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