By Memorial Day weekend. Grilled burgers and brats on the fire pit Saturday. The usual summer kickoff — meat over coals, potato salad from both traditions (Connie's mustard, my mayo), corn on the cob because the roadside stand on Versailles Road opened for the season.
Visited the veterans' cemetery Monday. Walked the rows. Thought about Clay. This year was different because Clay came. First time. He stood at the gate for five minutes before walking in, and I stood beside him and didn't say anything because the gate is his to walk through at his own pace. He walked in. He walked the rows with me. He stopped at a stone and put his hand on it and I couldn't read the name but I could see his jaw clench, and I put my hand on his shoulder and held it there the way I've held it a hundred times before — not pushing, not pulling, just there. We stayed fifteen minutes. On the drive home he said thank you for not talking. I said you're welcome.
Clay and Sarah are seeing each other twice a week now. Coffee on Tuesdays, dinner on Saturdays. The regularity of it, the schedule, the consistency — that's Clay's language of love, because Clay doesn't do spontaneous, Clay does deliberate, and deliberate is its own kind of romance.
We had plenty of heavy on the table that weekend — the burgers, the brats, two potato salads fighting for the same real estate on the picnic table — and I wanted something that cut through all of it, something bright and a little unexpected. Connie had brought the blackberries from the farmers’ market and I’d been meaning to do something with them all summer. After Monday, after the cemetery, after Clay said thank you for not talking, I needed to put my hands on something good and simple and alive, and this salad was exactly that — sharp vinegar, sweet fruit, cool greens, done in ten minutes while the coals were still going.
Spinach Berry Salad with Blackberry-Balsamic Vinaigrette
Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 10 min | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 6 cups fresh baby spinach, washed and dried
- 1 cup fresh blackberries
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
- 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/4 cup candied pecans or walnuts
- 1/4 small red onion, very thinly sliced
- Blackberry-Balsamic Vinaigrette:
- 1/2 cup fresh blackberries
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Make the vinaigrette. Combine 1/2 cup blackberries, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper in a blender or small food processor. Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Taste and adjust seasoning. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve if you prefer a smoother dressing, or leave as-is for texture.
- Prep the salad base. Place spinach in a large salad bowl. Scatter sliced red onion evenly over the top.
- Add the fruit. Arrange the blackberries, sliced strawberries, and blueberries over the spinach in a single loose layer so berries are distributed throughout.
- Finish and dress. Sprinkle feta and candied pecans over the top. Drizzle 3 to 4 tablespoons of the blackberry-balsamic vinaigrette over the salad just before serving. Toss gently at the table to coat. Serve immediately with remaining vinaigrette on the side.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 148 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 16g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 185mg