Spinach Tortellini Salad

Note: Don't publish posts to delicious foods while your stomach is rumbling, it just makes it worse!

Okay, so this salad is yummy and doesn't require much work. The most time consuming thing is making the dressing, which only takes a matter of minutes. Be sure to wash your spinach leaves really well, because they always seems to be full of dirt. As a side note, always dry your lettuce as best you can before adding dressing (a salad spinner is a wonderful invention). I learned from working in a restaurant years ago, that if the lettuce is too wet, the dressing won't stick to it, and you won't taste the dressing (and let's be honest, that is half the goodness of a salad's flavor). Enjoy!


Spinach Tortellini Salad
Recipe from my friend Caitlin
Pictures by Caroline

Dressing:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (I used white wine vinegar and it worked great)
1/4 cup salad oil (light extra virgin olive oil)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon grated onion (I love onion! I used about ¼ cup of grated red onions)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (I used about 2 tablespoons of seeds and toasted them in my toaster oven for a couple of minutes)

Salad:
½ lb baby spinach leaves
12 oz. premade cheese tortellini’s (cooked and chilled)
1 can, canned mandarin oranges
¾ cup bacon, cooked and crumbled

Directions:
1. Bring sugar and vinegar to a boil in small sauce pan. Stir until sugar dissolves; take off stove.
2. Add oil, salt, paprika, grated onion, and sesame seeds. Stir really well or pour everything into a jar and shake until well mixed; let dressing sit (the longer it sits before you toss on salad the better--I make it the night before, or the morning of).
3. Mix salad ingredients together; toss in the dressing and bacon just before serving so nothing gets soggy.

This recipe makes a large salad, enough for about 10-12 servings, so it is great to take to parties, like bridal showers where I recently served it.
-Caroline