Let's Do Lunch: Baby Spinach Salad with Brie Cheese, Figs, and Toasted Almonds

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As a young boy growing up in Udine in northern Italy, and long before he studied at Italy’s famed Alma cooking academy and became the Executive Chef at Tavola Italian Dining, Roberto Barazzutti would see his neighbor use the simplest, but most effective, of culinary techniques for preparing salad greens. 

“She lived next door to us and she was a quite an old lady. She never owned anything like a salad strainer,” Barazzutti says, adding that her method for drying leafy greens was far more practical. “She would simply wrap the spinach in a towel and swing it vertically, snapping it like a whip in the air … every afternoon I’d see her on her terrace swinging that cloth, and I used to think that she must have been doing that every day of her life.”

These days Barazzutti dries his spinach in the same way at Tavola's Shanghai branch, although both of his kitchens in Beijing and Shanghai have well-designed floor grates that catch the drops of water as he swings the veggie laden towel (as opposed to the steps leading to his elderly neighbor’s terrace). This method may work particularly well for Beijingers who have trouble finding a place to buy a quality salad strainer. However, Barazzutti says the technique does have a few stipulations.

“Don’t use a napkin, it’s too thick,” he says, adding that a thin linen cloth will work far better because: “The water needs to be expelled on the outside, and not kept in the towel.”

Once the spinach has been dried, Barazzutti says today’s dish, Baby Spinach Salad with Brie Cheese, Figs, and Toasted Almonds, only needs a few more simple steps to be completed and strikes a balance between healthiness and heartiness, a perfectly healthy light lunch for Autumn. 

“It’s really common to mix cheese with dried fruit in a salad where I’m from,” he says, before adding that the almonds in this particular dish are part of his of own unique twist on the recipe. Barazzutti says these ingredients have numerous nutritional benefits: “Almonds contain a lot of healthy oils, as opposed to the fatty oils in other foods, and the cheese has protein, which makes the dish quite filling," he says, adding that the figs in the dish are also naturally sweet, making them as tasty as they are nutritious.

Despite the dish’s simplicity, Barazzutti does have a few unique tips that will help it reach its flavor potential. Chief among those suggestions: don’t peel the figs. 

“Whenever I eat fruits and vegetables, I always leave the skin on,” he says, adding that outer layer not only contains vital nutrients, but also numerous other benefits. “If you leave the skin on, it’s more tasty, along with being healthier, because the skin is what the sun hits. If you buy vegetables and fruit, and always skin them, then you’re wasting your money.”

Ingredients: 

Suki Brie Soft Ripened Cheese
Spinach
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Ya Jiade Almonds
Organic Brown Figs
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper 
 

Directions:

1.    Wash spinach in cold water (in order to get it as crispy and green as possible).

2.    Strain the spinach with a linen cloth or with a salad strainer.

3.    If the almonds are fresh, toast them for 3-4 minutes on a hot pan over a fire (they can also be purchased already toasted).

4.    Cut the brie cheese and the figs into slices.

5.    Season the spinach in a bowl with salt, pepper, vinegar and the olive oil, then toss it to evenly displace the condiments. 

6.    Place on a serving plate (or in your lunch-box) and set on top of it the rest of the ingredients.

About the author: A ravenous foodie and frequent tbj contributor, Kyle Mullin has been working as a freelance reporter in Beijing since 2011.

Photos: Ken Liu

This series is sponsored by TooToo Organic Farm. Ask your favorite restaurant where they source their food supplies – TooToo Organic Farm can be their reliable choice!

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For more recipes made with TooToo's fresh organic ingredients, check out Chef Phillip Taylor's spicy Italian sausage and tomato pasta, Chef Robert Cunningham's mango and mint salad and Chef Jun Trinh's pork and shiitake meatloaf, flavorful beef larp and spiced fish cake pasta.

Photos: Ken