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This is my first year growing spinach or, I should say, successfully growing spinach. Greens have always been my achilles heal when gardening. I plant them too late or in too much sun and they just bolt and get bitter on me. I hoped to learn from my mistakes here in Colorado and planted them in mass earlier and then transplanted them later to the shadier side of my garden bed. So far so good and spinach is the first crop we have been able to harvest!

Unfortunately I learned two things this week: 1. It suddenly gets warm and greens still bolt even here and 2. It can hail, and when it does…spinach destruction. Result? Time for a recipe that uses lots of spinach!

This past winter holiday my husband bought me Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu. This book is so down my alley: farming and Japanese culture and food. I would love to go and live with her for a while and learn all this stuff! I was leafing through the pages and came across the super simple recipe for Sesame-Miso Vinaigrette. I wondered what it would taste like combined with a simple, slightly sweet teriyaki sauce and some chili flakes for spice, and bam Sweet and Spicy Sesame-Miso Dressing.

To make it a complete meal I decided to add crispy tofu. I am OBSESSED with crispy tofu right now. It soaks up any sauce so well and even stays crunchy (as long as you don’t super over drench it). Serve the tofu warm with warm dressing and you get an amazing wilted spinach salad. Let the tofu and dressing cool and it is equally delicious with no wilting. I have also done this with a kale and spinach mix.

Wilted Spinach and Crispy Tofu Salad with Sweet and Spicy Sesame Miso Dressing

Dressing inspired by Japanese Farm Food
Makes 2 full salads, 4 side salads

Sweet and Spicy Sesame Miso Dressing
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
2 tablespoons sugar
½ tablespoon ginger, grated or minced*
1 clove garlic, grated or minced*
1 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
½ tablespoon miso paste (I used brown)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1. In small saucepan add soy sauce, mirin, sugar, ginger, garlic and chili pepper flakes. Heat over medium low heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Then leave on the heat.

 

2. Add miso paste and rice vinegar to a small bowl. Stir until miso is totally incorporated into the vinegar that there are no lumps. Once it is well mixed, add sesame oil and stir into mixture in saucepan.
3. Remove from heat. Add sesame seeds.

Crispy Tofu
½ block (7 ounces) Firm Tofu
¼ cup Corn or Potato Starch
Sea Salt
White (or black) Pepper
Oil for Frying (Peanut or Canola)

1. Pour enough oil so that is comes ¼ to ½ inch up the side of the pan. Turn on stove to medium high.
2. Remove tofu from container and pat dry with a towel. Cut into bite sized pieces (I did about 1 inch squares).
3. In another bowl, sealable plastic bag, paper bag, or sealable reusable container, combine corn/potato starch, salt and pepper. Mix.

    

4. Add tofu to container. Shake/mix until tofu is completely covered. Add more starch if needed.
5. Check oil with a bamboo chopstick. If you see bubbles, it is ready to go!** Add in tofu pieces one at a time.

 

6. Fry until lightly colored, about 5 minutes, then flip tofu over. I use chopsticks for this step.
7. Fry other side of tofu about 5 more minutes. Remove from pan and place on rack or paper towel for oil to drain.

Assembling the Salad
(This is the step by step way I do it so it all comes together warm at the end)
4 cups whole spinach leaves
Crispy Tofu
Sweet and Spicy Sesame Miso Dressing

1. Pour oil in pan and start heating the oil
2. Clean and dry spinach then place in bowl.
3. Prep the tofu. Test oil and when ready to go start frying the tofu.
4. Put the ingredients for the dressing in the sauce pan, stir until sugar dissolves.
5. Flip tofu (I do this one at a time with chopsticks).
6. Combine rice vinegar and miso, mix. Add sesame oil and seeds. Combine dressing.
7. Remove tofu from oil.
8. Pour half of dressing (or as much as you want. I always air on the side of caution and dress and stir a few times until I think it looks good) onto spinach. Stir spinach until it is full coated. The faster this step occurs after taking the dressing off the stove, the more the spinach will wilt.

 

8. Add crispy tofu to remaining half of dressing in saucepan. Stir until all tofu is completely coated in dressing.
9. Add dressed spinach to bowl, place tofu on top, and enjoy!

Notes:
You do not have to serve this salad warm you can prep the ingredients whenever you want and serve it cold! Make the tofu and dressing ahead of time, let them cool then clean and dry spinach and start at step #7 above.

*To grate the ginger and garlic easily I used a Microplane Zester. I am not paid to promote this, I just find it is the best tool for the job when I am making a sauce for something like a salad when I don’t want small minced chunks. You do end up with some ginger strings in it though. I do have a ginger grater as well which I love, but I don’t find it works as quick and cleanly.

**When frying I find it is all about learning your stove. You can use a thermometer but for simple recipes like this with low levels of oil I don’t like using it. Instead I dip a bamboo chopstick into the oil and check the bubbles that come up. If it bubbles well, the oil is good. Also I always put one tofu in first and test, if it looks like it is frying well I put in the others. I flip them earlier and turn down the heat a little if they get too brown too fast.