Brown Rice and Spinach Salad (Strawberry Balsamic, Basil & Lemon Olive Oil)

Side Dish Club recipes were designed to be produced by weight in grams so that nutrition information could be calculated so you will need a scale to replicate them.

Each recipe produces four servings for a side dish next to a main dish. This size is 115 grams or about 4 ounces (1/4 lb) in weight and about 3/4 cup in volume. For a full meal, you would double the serving size, and this recipe would produce two.

This recipe is brings together the idea of a spinach and fresh strawberry salad into a filling side dish.

What you will need:

• Brown Rice

• Fresh Baby Spinach Leaves

• Fresh Basil Leaves

• Raw Tomato - I suggest using vine ripened high quality tomatos. If you shop at a super market, look for a hot house variety like kumato or campari tomatos or a smaller organic heirloom like black krim. Or select vine ripened tomatoes from the farmers market. If you grow your own, that is the very best! You are looking for sweet and flavor filled varieties. Avoid generic roma or large red tomatoes from the store as they could be mealy and lack flavor.

• Raw Sunflower Seeds

• Crumbled Feta Cheese - You can purchase already crumbled feta, but note that it may be a bit dry. You can purchase block feta and crumble it yourself; it will be moist and some will stick to your fingers, but if you don’t mind licking your fingers this may be a plus! Recently I have been using sheep’s milk feta and find it delicious.

• Better Than Bouillon (Vegetable or Chicken) - Better than Bouillon is used in many side dish club recipes. We love it because it tastes super fresh and you can get it in low-salt versions which we prefer since these days almost everything is over salted. You can use either chicken or vegetable broth for this recipe depending on the flavor profile you prefer. We generally like to use chicken, but that is not a good option for vegetarians. To read more about this product, here is a link to the website for Better Than Bouillon.

• Strawberry Balsamic Vinegar (you can use white or dark)

• Basil Olive Oil and Lemon Olive Oil - or Basil Olive Oil and a fresh lemon.

Cook the Brown Rice.

It takes about 25-30 grams of raw rice to produce the 55 grams of cooked rice for a serving. So measure out about 120 grams of raw rice to end up with about 220 grams for your recipe. Cook in accordance with package instructions for the ratio of raw rice to water, but add 1 Tablespoon of Better than Bouillon to the warm cooking water. Make sure to stir in the boullion until it is dissolved in the water before adding the rice or you will get sections of rice with all of the boullion and some with none … yuck!

Once your brown rice is cooked, measure out 220 grams and set it aside to cool in the refrigerator. If you have a little more or less than 220 grams, do not worry. Unless you want the nutrition information to match exactly, you can go a little under or over on the rice.

Wash and dry your veggies.

You can do this while the brown rice is cooling.

I always thoroughly wash my garden ingredients before using them. I create a vinegar wash (about 1 cup of white vinegar to a gallon of water) and place the garden ingredients into the vinegar wash for about 5 minutes before rinsing. This is just “me” as I worry about germs on fresh veggies. But the vinegar wash is certainly optional.

Also thoroughly dry your vegetables, which in this case are the spinach leaves and the basil, before using. You want to avoid using wet vegetables because the water on the vegetables will water down your dressing and thus your flavor. I usually just set my leaves out to dry, but if want to accelerate the drying you can put a fan set on low to blow are over them or pat them dry with a towel. You can wash your tomatoes and just dry them off with a towel.

Prepare and measure your other ingredients.

For measuring I suggest the following:

• Set your scale on the counter and turn it on.

• Make sure it is set to grams.

• Set a large bowl on the side to hold all of your measured ingredients.

• Set a smaller container on the scale to collect your individual ingredients

• Tare out the scale to remove the weight of the container on the scale.

Next …

• Spinach: Remove the stems from your baby spinach leaves and lightly chop them. Put the chopped leaves into the bowl on the scale until you have 66 grams and then put them into the larger bowl. Replace the empty bowl onto the scale and re-tare so the scale shows zero.

• Basil: Finely chop the basil leaves. Put the chopped leaves into the scale dish until you have 6 grams and then put them into the larger bowl. Replace the empty bowl onto the scale and re-tare so the scale shows zero.

• Note: Alternatively you can measure out your grams of spinach and basil leaves whole and then chop them and place them into the larger bowl, but if you do this, add a few extra grams as you will always lose some grams left on the cutting board.

• Sunflower Seeds: Measure out 28 grams of raw sunflower seeds and place them into the larger bowl.

• Tomato: Slice the tomato, remove most of the seeds, and then finely chop the remainder pulp and skin. The seeds are very watery and will water down your dish. You can save the seeds if you like to toss into any sauce or veggie saute later. Put the chopped tomato into the scale until you have 66 grams and then put the tomato in the larger bowl. Replace the empty bowl onto the scale and re-tare so the scale shows zero.

• Feta Cheese: Measure out about 15 grams of crumbled feta in your dish. Don’t place the feta into the large bowl but set it aside as you will want to add it last.

Make your dressing.

• Place a medium size mixing bowl on the scale.

• Pour in 38 grams of dark or white strawberry balsamic vinegar.

• Pour in 10 grams of Basil Olive Oil and 10 grams of Lemon Olive Oil. (If you do not have Lemon Olive Oil, use 20 grams of Basil Olive Oil and then squeeze in the juice from 1/2 a medium size fresh lemon through a strainer so you don’t get seeds and add some grated lemon zest.)

• Remove bowl from scale and whisk using a wire whisk briskly until ingredients are fully emulsified, i.e. thick, creamy, and not separating.

• (Note that I tend to go light on dressing. Many side dish customers wanted a little more dressing and for them I would add extra on the side. For the dressing rich flavor increase the amount of each ingredient by 50%. Just note that this will affect the nutrition information.)

Assemble your side dish.

By now your brown rice should be nice and cool, so it is time to bring all of the ingredients together.

• Mix your dressing into your brown rice until thoroughly mixed. This ensures that the dressing is fully distributed but prevents your other ingredients from becoming over processed via mixing.

• Add in all of the other ingredients and mix lightly so that veggies/seeds are well distributed but not too crushed.

• As for the feta cheese, I like it best served over the top. If you are making this in advance, you can set the feta aside and put it on when serving. However, if you want to add the cheese in advance, add it last and just mix very lightly.

Nutrition info.