Spinach and Red Leaf Salad with Goat Cheese and Basil-Stuffed Tomatoes

Salad

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A sophisticated take on spinach salad boasts broiled tomatoes

Ingredients

2 cups Cut `n Clean Greens Spinach, ribs removed
1 bunch red leaf lettuce, torn, washed and spun dry
1 red onion, thinly sliced

6 Baby Roma tomatoes
1 cup goat cheese
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons chopped flat leaf parsley
2 teaspoons freshly chopped basil
1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/4 cup Italian red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon freshly chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Garnish: 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts

Preparation

Place spinach, washed lettuce and sliced onion in a salad bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and chill.

Halve the tomatoes and scoop out the center into a bowl. Place the halved tomatoes on a baking sheet, cut side up. Mix the goat cheese with the next 6 ingredients (olive oil through black pepper) and stuff each tomato half with mixture. Use tomatoes cold or broil until golden and bubbly.

Prepare vinaigrette:
Place wine vinegar in a medium glass bowl. Add all seasonings (parsley through black pepper) and whisk together. While whisking, drizzle in the oil until emulsified. If you’re in a hurry, simply shake to combine in a cruet.

Toss salad with desired quantity of dressing. Top with cold or baked stuffed tomatoes and garnish salad with toasted pine nuts. Drizzle a bit of dressing over tomatoes.

Serves 2-4.

This recipe comes from Faith Alahverdian, executive chef and director for the ShopRite Culinary Workshops. (ShopRite is an East Coast retail supermarket cooperative.) Alahverdian was schooled at Le Cordon Bleu Paris; L’ecole de Cuisine Ritz-Escoffier, Paris; the Greenbriar Foodwriter’s Symposium in West Virginia; and a two-year apprenticeship with master French chef Philippe Chin. She worked with celebrity chef Jim Coleman at the five-diamond Rittenhouse hotel in Philadelphia and on his PBS cooking show, “Flavors of America.” Before joining ShopRite, Alahverdian owned La Bonne Cuisine, a private chef business. She was also a culinary instructor at Temple University and The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College.

For more info on the ShopRite Culinary Workshop Program, go to www.shoprite.com