Omega 3 Salad with Maple-Mustard Vinaigrette

You guys. I don't only eat doughnuts. I swear. I mean, maybe I did make one more batch of baked apple spiced doughnuts with a maple glaze last week.

But it was National Doughnut Day. What else was I supposed to do?

When it's not National Doughnut Day. And when it's not family pizza night...

We've actually been eating quite healthily lately. And while healthy food isn't as fun to talk about on the internets as doughnuts, I do have a recent gem to share. It's a salad. A delicious, colorful, texturally-complex salad. I totally hope you make this salad some time. But the reason I made it the way I did was more to use up the last-of-the-farmer's-market produce than to make a rainbow plate of vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids. I encourage you to do the same: use what you've got, aim for a good mix of colors and a little to crunch to make your greens more interesting. But MAKE. THIS. DRESSING. It's wonderful and I'm proud of it and it will make whatever you've got in your refrigerator taste like you're at a fancy restaurant.

P.S. This salad is best followed by a doughnut.

Omega-3 Salad with Maple Mustard Vinaigrette

Serves 2

For salad

4 cups torn spinach or other salad greens

1 cup shredded purple cabbage (about 1/2 a small head of cabbage)

3 tomatillos* or 1 cucumber or both, coarsely chopped

1 carrot, chopped or ribboned with a vegetable peeler

6 oz cooked salmon, torn into bite-sized pieces

Handful of raw pepitas

A hardboiled egg or two, crumbled

For Maple Mustard Vinaigrette

¼ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1-2 tablespoons maple syrup (depending on how sweet you like it)

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard or something grainy like Local Folks Stoneground XXpress (my favorite)

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper (or Golden Fig’s maple pepper!)

Put all your dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake the heck out of it. (Stores well in refrigerator for a few weeks.) Layer salad ingredients on two plates. Season with a little salt. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of dressing on each salad. Eat it fast so you can have a doughnut.

* Tomatillos aren't just for roasting. They have a nice, mild tartness when raw, and a reliably satisfying texture (unlike tomatoes, they don't get mealy or mushy ever). They are green and sometimes purple. Something pretty and new for a salad. Go for it!