Catalina Spinach Salad

The week unfolded with the rhythm that defines this period of life: work at the clinic and Rutgers, children growing, Amma in memory care. The kitchen produces meals on schedule — breakfast, lunches, dinners — the machinery of a household run by a woman who learned to cook from a woman who measured in handfuls. I visit Amma three times a week. The containers, labeled, delivered. She eats or she doesn't. She hums or she doesn't. The connection through food persists regardless of response. The children are themselves: Anaya with her books and her quiet observations, Rohan with his noise and his spatial brilliance. Both of them in the kitchen — Anaya by choice, Rohan by appetite. The ordinary week. The week that holds the extraordinary weeks together. I made Vegetable biryani. Because the kitchen doesn't stop for ordinary weeks. The kitchen treats every week the same: with heat, with spice, with the generous pinch that is always enough.

The biryani filled the kitchen with its spice, and alongside it I put together this salad — something cool and bright to carry the meal through — because that’s what the ordinary week demands: layers of effort that look effortless. A Catalina Spinach Salad is exactly that: quick enough to make on a Tuesday after the clinic, the drive to Amma’s, the homework checked. It takes nothing from you and gives everything back — the kind of recipe that has a place at the table precisely because the table never waits.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

8 oz fresh baby spinach, washed and dried
4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
8 oz fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced into rings
1/2 cup Catalina salad dressing
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste

Instructions

Cook the bacon. In a skillet over medium heat, cook bacon strips until crisp, about 8—10 minutes. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain and cool, then crumble into small pieces.
Prepare the eggs. Place eggs in a small saucepan, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 10 minutes. Transfer to an ice bath, peel, and slice into rounds.
Build the salad base. Place the baby spinach in a large serving bowl. Layer the sliced mushrooms and red onion rings evenly over the top.
Add the toppings. Arrange the sliced hard-boiled eggs across the salad and scatter the crumbled bacon evenly over everything.
Dress and season. Drizzle the Catalina dressing over the salad just before serving. Season with black pepper and salt to taste. Toss gently or serve with tongs so guests can mix their own portions.

Nutrition (per serving)

Catalina Spinach Salad — The Week the Kitchen Doesn’t Stop