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Pretty pluots team with spinach and pecans in summer salad

Recipe: Pluot-spinach salad with fig balsamic vinaigrette

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUL 17, 2022

Pluot salad — Fig balsamic vinaigrette ties together the elements of this cool salad.
(Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Pluots, a cross between plums and apricots, offer the sweet juicy flavor of their parents. But unlike most plums and apricots, pluots tend to stay crisp longer instead of turning mushy soft.

That makes them ideal for salads. My favorite salad pluot is Emerald Drop. This variety has attractive bright green skin and, when ripe, honey gold flesh. When juicy ripe, it still retains its crunch. That adds texture as well as flavor and color to cool summer salads.

Slices of Emerald Drop pluots look particularly attractive tossed with fresh spinach. Raisins and pecans add more texture (and just a little more sweetness). The fig balsamic vinaigrette pulls it all together.

Other pluot varieties will work, too, as will firm apricots or plums or a combination of both. After all, isn’t that when plouts are – a combination of both?

Pluot-spinach salad

Makes 2 large or 4 side servings

Ingredients:

2 large firm pluots

¼ cup raisins

2 green pluots — These are Emerald Drop pluots, but other varieties or apricots

or plums will work in the salad.

¼ cup pecans, chopped

3 cups spinach

For dressing:

1 tablespoon fig balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons white wine

1 teaspoon sugar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Wash and pit pluots. Cut fruit into thin slices. Put in a large mixing bowl.

Add raisins and pecans to the bowl.

Prepare dressing. In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine balsamic vinegar, olive oil, white wine, sugar, salt and pepper. Shake to combine.

Drizzle dressing over fruit and nut mixture in bowl. Toss gently to coat fruit.

Wash spinach and pat dry. Add to fruit and nut mixture. Toss gently to combine.

Serve immediately.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

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Garden Checklist for week of May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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