I have a serious obsession with playing with my foods. I love combining different flavors and textures to make something that is traditionally an afterthought into something spectacular. I do this, most often, with salads.
It really makes me sad when people are so turned off by salad. “Salad, again??” they usually ask in disbelief when I join them for any kind of meal. Well, yeah, and you would too if you were eating the kinds of salads I am! I get bored of lettuce, too, so I’m constantly revamping my salads so I have something to look forward to at each meal.
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This time I was inspired by a little packet of mulberries. My in-laws bought some to make my trail mix but had a little bit leftover. They asked if I wanted some because they knew I was crazy about these little guys. I took them home and put them on my counter with no great plans other than to be eaten plainly as a snack before I taught my night class during the week.
Then, inspiration struck. The next morning, as I was preparing my breakfast, I couldn’t help but feel the mulberries staring at me. Finally, I grabbed the packet, dumped the little guys into a bowl, squeezed some OJ over them, and got to work on this dressing.
This dressing was born and the salad quickly followed. I used the dressing with some spinach and arugula, green onion, 1/4 avocado, tomatoes, sunflower sprouts, flax and pumpkin seeds, and of course a couple more mulberries.
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Orange Mulberry Vinairgrette:
a recipe
1/4 cup mulberries
1 orange, juiced
1/2 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 shallot, chopped
1 t apple cider vinegar
2 T olive oil (optional)
Hand squeeze the orange and pour the juice over the mulberries and allow them to soak for 5-10 minutes. Chop the garlic and shallot and then add everything into the blender. Blend until liquified.
I used half a clove of garlic and a quarter of a shallot because they were both enormous and also because I didn’t want an overwhelming flavor from each. Also, I opted to use oil, though I normally don’t, because I wanted it to emulsify in the blender and create a sort of creamy texture out of the dressing. Try it out either way, adjust everything to your liking!
xo
