Spinach Salad with Tomato

Pulled this spinach caprese salad off AllRecipes — wanted something simple on a Tuesday night, something I could put together fast without thinking too hard. The recipe is straightforward: baby spinach, fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar. No cooking, just assembly. That's either a strength or a trap depending on how serious you are about your ingredients.

I used decent roma tomatoes, which in February is already asking for trouble. That's on me, not the recipe. Fresh mozzarella from Trader Joe's, which is fine but not exceptional. Baby spinach from a bag — no complaints there.

The dressing is just olive oil and balsamic drizzled straight over the top, which I appreciate for its honesty. No emulsification, no garlic, no mustard. What you get is clean and light. I hit it with some flaky salt and cracked pepper at the end, which the recipe does call for.

Result was decent. Not exciting. The tomatoes were the weak link — mealy and muted, exactly what February tomatoes usually are. The mozzarella was creamy enough to carry some weight, and the spinach held up better than I expected under the dressing. Balsamic-to-olive-oil ratio felt right.

My honest read: this recipe has no margin for error on ingredient quality. In July with peak tomatoes and real buffalo mozzarella, this is a genuinely good plate. In February, you're fighting the calendar. The technique is sound — slice everything uniform, don't overdress, serve immediately. I followed all of that.

First attempt, so nothing to compare it against yet. I'll probably run it back mid-summer when tomatoes actually taste like something. That'll be the real test of whether the recipe holds up or if I was just eating the ingredients.

Rating right now: solid 6. Ask me again in August.

Went back to this salad category after a mediocre run in February. The AllRecipes version I tried then was basically just spinach with fresh mozzarella and tomato — fine, forgettable, rated it a 3 and moved on. Wanted to see if Serious Eats could give the concept more backbone.

Their take leans into beets and walnuts, which immediately makes it a different animal. I roasted the beets myself instead of using pre-cooked — wrapped in foil, 400 degrees, about an hour. That's where a lot of the flavor lives. Canned or vacuum-packed beets would've killed the whole thing. The walnuts got a quick toast in a dry pan, which I did right before plating so they were still warm when everything came together.

The dressing is a sherry vinegar vinaigrette, and that's the right call. Red wine vinegar would've been too sharp against the earthiness of the beets. I hit my ratios pretty clean — maybe slightly heavy on the oil, but I can live with that.

Result: genuinely good. The beets brought sweetness and that deep mineral thing they do, the walnuts added crunch and a little bitterness, and the spinach held up without wilting under the dressing. Tomato played more of a supporting role here than in the February attempt, which is honestly where it belongs in this composition.

Where it fell short of perfect — I think some kind of cheese would've rounded it out. The recipe mentions it as optional, and I skipped it. Next time I'd throw in goat cheese or a sharp blue. The salad was clean but needed one more layer of richness to really land.

Still, this was a clear upgrade over attempt one. More complexity, better technique in the prep, and a dressing that actually had a point of view. Rated it a 4.