Spinach Salad with Chili-Lime-Maple-Cilantro Dressing

It was just one of those days when all you want is a simple salad. I am not a big fan of salads unless I like the dressing. Oh yes, the dressing is very important for me. In fact, I have salads just for the dressing.

Now, I like cilantro, no wait, I LOVE cilantro. So if I want to enjoy a salad, I had to make a cilantro dressing. Got to be a little sweet, little tangy, little heat with a cilantro background. Made chili-lime-maple-cilantro dressing and enjoyed it with a refreshing spinach salad with mandarins and walnuts. Loved it. Loved the dressing!

I put the rest of the dressing to good use later: marinated some chicken with this and some garlic, onions and carrots and baked them (Will post later!). Wonderful dinner served with such ease. This dressing is so easy to put together, that you can make this any day, any time.

You need:

For dressing:

1 cup cilantro (Do not need to pick the leaves, only remove the hard stem).

Juice and zest of 1 lime

1 green chili (Use none or less or more depending on how much heat you like. I personally recommend a little heat, nicely balances the lime and the sweet taste of maple)

2 tablespoon maple syrup

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

pinch of salt

⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil

For salad:

A handful of fresh baby spinach leaves

1 mandarin, peeled and cut into small pieces

¼ cup toasted chopped walnuts

Few slices of red onion 

How:

Put all the ingredients of the dressing in a blender. Blend it to smooth consistency. Taste for salt and lime. Add more if you like. Drizzle over the spinach with mandarin and walnuts. Enjoy!

If you like cilantro as much as I do, you may also like:

Pico de Gallo and Guacamole

Roasted cornish hens with sweet and savory brown rice