Hot Spinach Apple Salad

Jack's garden operation grows more ambitious every year. The greenhouse, the market sales, the Farm Fund jar that now holds over three hundred dollars. He's 11 and he farms the way some kids play video games — obsessively, joyfully, with the deep understanding that this is not a hobby but a vocation wearing a hobby's clothes.

The recipe this week: strawberry spinach salad. Standing at the stove, Marlene's wooden spoon in my hand (the cracked one, the one that will outlast us all), the recipe either from the card box or from my own expanding collection, both equally real, both equally mine. The kitchen holds all of it — the old recipes and the new ones, the teacher's food and the student's food, the grief and the joy and the cinnamon. All of it. Always.

Seed starting continues at the Holloway household — the windowsill green, the grow lights purple, the soil mix precise. The annual miracle of February and March: things grow even when everything says they shouldn't. The growing is the argument against everything.

The kitchen was already holding so much that evening — Jack’s muddy boots by the door, the grow lights still humming purple in the next room, Marlene’s wooden spoon already in my hand before I even decided what to make. A spinach salad felt right: something alive and green, something that honored what he’s growing out there in the cold and the hopeful dark. This hot spinach apple salad is warm enough to feel like comfort but bright enough to taste like the season turning, which is exactly where we are.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 20 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

6 cups fresh baby spinach, washed and dried
1 medium apple (Honeycrisp or Fuji), cored and thinly sliced
4 strips bacon
1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

Cook the bacon. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon strips until crispy, about 6–8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and crumble. Leave 2 tablespoons of drippings in the pan.
Build the warm dressing. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add apple cider vinegar, sugar, dry mustard, salt, and pepper to the reserved drippings. Whisk constantly for 2–3 minutes until sugar dissolves and the dressing is just beginning to bubble.
Prep the salad base. While the dressing warms, place spinach, apple slices, and red onion in a large heatproof serving bowl.
Dress and wilt. Pour the warm dressing over the spinach mixture immediately and toss quickly with tongs to coat evenly. The spinach will wilt slightly — this is exactly right.
Finish and serve. Top with crumbled bacon and walnuts if using. Serve immediately while the dressing is still warm.

Nutrition (per serving)

Hot Spinach Apple Salad — The Kitchen That Holds All of It