Spinach and Arugula Salad with Sautéed Onions, Sweet Corn, Avocado, and a Soft-Boiled Egg
A house-favorite chopped salad — spinach and arugula with multicolored cherry tomatoes, seeded cucumbers, avocado cubes, and warm sautéed onions with quick-boiled sweet corn, tossed in her Dijon vinaigrette and topped with a soft-boiled egg.
"This salad is on repeat in our house or at least some version of it." She likes that the sautéed onions are "the warming part of the dish today" — sometimes it's mushrooms instead. The corn gets a quick cook first: "I boiled it first just for like two to three minutes and then I cut it off the cob. And I do it sometimes on Sunday for the week so it's super easy to just assemble the salad." She scoops the insides out of the cucumbers "so that it wouldn't get watery with the seeds," and cuts the avocado into smaller cubes because "when I go to mix the whole salad, it'll help create a creamy feeling with the salad dressing coating the leaves, which I love." On the onions and corn: "which goes beautifully together." This time she also added "a soft-boiled egg on top... just a little protein, it just makes the dish a little more substantial." And the dressing is a constant: "I always use my fresh Dijon vinaigrette."
kitchen Ingredients
- Fresh spinach used whole leaves
- Arugula
- Multicolored cherry tomatoes halved · Farm to People · "beautiful fresh cherry tomatoes that are multicolored" — orange, yellow, green, and dark ones in the bowl
- Cucumbers seeds/insides scooped out, then sliced into half-moons · "I scooped the insides out so that it wouldn't get watery with the seeds"
- Onions finely chopped and sautéed · the warm element of the dish; mushrooms sometimes stand in
- Sweet corn boiled on the cob 2–3 minutes, then kernels cut off · "I boiled it first just for like two to three minutes and then I cut it off the cob" — she'll sometimes do this on Sunday for the week
- Avocado cut into small cubes · small cubes so it melts into the dressing and makes it creamy
- Egg soft-boiled · "a soft-boiled egg on top... just a little protein, it just makes the dish a little more substantial"
- Olive oil a little for sautéing the onions, plus some in the vinaigrette
- Salt a little when sautéing the onions, and in the vinaigrette
- Dijon mustard for the vinaigrette
- Rice vinegar for the vinaigrette
- Champagne vinegar "for a touch of sweetness"
- Pepper in the vinaigrette
local_dining Instructions
Boil the corn on the cob for just two to three minutes, then cut the kernels off. (This can be done ahead — she often does it on Sunday for the week.) (2–3 minutes)
Sauté the chopped onions with a little salt and olive oil until softened and lightly golden.
Combine the corn kernels with the sautéed onions — this is the warm part of the salad. (Mushrooms can be sautéed instead of onions.)
Soft-boil the egg(s), then peel and halve.
Scoop the seeds and insides out of the cucumbers so the salad doesn't get watery, then slice.
Halve the cherry tomatoes and cut the avocado into small cubes.
Layer the spinach and arugula in a large bowl with the cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, and the warm onion-corn mixture.
Make the Dijon vinaigrette: whisk Dijon mustard with a little olive oil, rice vinegar, champagne vinegar, salt, and pepper.
Dress and toss the whole salad so the avocado breaks down slightly and the dressing coats the leaves creamily.
Top with the soft-boiled egg.
Inspiration
It's her everyday, endlessly-variable house salad — "on repeat in our house or at least some version of it." Today's version came together around the fresh multicolored cherry tomatoes from Farm to People, plus whatever warm sautéed element she feels like (onions today, mushrooms other times), and this time a soft-boiled egg on top to make it "a little more substantial." Part of why it repeats: she'll boil and cut the corn ahead, "sometimes on Sunday for the week so it's super easy to just assemble the salad."
Open Questions
- help_outlineHow much of each vegetable — how many cups of greens, tomatoes, cucumbers?
- help_outlineHow many ears of corn, or how much corn?
- help_outlineDoes the corn go in warm, or straight from the fridge if it's prepped ahead?
- help_outlineWhat kind of onion — yellow, red, sweet?
- help_outlineHow long do you sauté the onions, and how brown do you want them?
- help_outlineHow long do you boil the egg, and how runny do you want the yolk?
- help_outlineOne egg per person, or one for the whole bowl?
- help_outlineWhat are the vinaigrette proportions — oil to the two vinegars to mustard?
- help_outlineHow many does this serve?
- help_outlineOne avocado or two?
Answer any of these below and I'll fold them in.
View original transcript
This salad is on repeat in our house or at least some version of it. Today we used fresh spinach and arugula, the beautiful fresh cherry tomatoes that are multicolored from Farm to People, along with these cucumbers. I scooped the insides out so that it wouldn't get watery with the seeds. I sauteed some onions. That's going to be the warming part of the dish today. Sometimes I'll saute mushrooms, but today it's the sauteed onions with the sweet corn, which goes beautifully together. I just add a little salt and olive oil when I saute the onions. Then we have the fresh avocado cut into smaller cubes. When I go to mix the whole salad, it'll help create a creamy feeling with the salad dressing coating the leaves, which I love. That's it. I always use my fresh Dijon vinaigrette, which I make with Dijon mustard, a little olive oil, rice vinegar, champagne vinegar for a touch of sweetness, salt, pepper, and that's that.