Spontaneous Salad

Duck Egg Spinach Salad

Sometimes you have to get creative when cooking. You have to use what is on hand and make what you can of it. On a recent weekend away with friends we had planned out a menu but hadn’t thought about a salad. I  brought along a bag of spinach as an after thought, but I didn’t have other salad ingredients with me. Friends surprised us with half a dozen hard cooked duck eggs from a relative. As the dinner approached we decided to use them together in salad. Amy found a bottle of raspberry vinaigrette  with just enough left for the spinach. She also had some apple cinnamon goat cheese we had planned on using as an appetizer. All that was left was a crunch element.  We did have some leftover hot dog buns from lunch. I cubed them up and added them to a skillet with butter, olive oil and some herbs. I cooked them until toasted. In the end we had salad that was really wonderful. I felt like we had done one of those cooking shows where you get a basket of odd ingredients and have to make them work together. Spinach from me, Scott’s duck eggs, Amy’s cheese and dressing and hot dog bun croutons. In the end a dish that didn’t just become a needed  starter but was really good. Something I would make again. Maybe that’s the message to take away. Look at what you have and figure out a way to make it work. I use recipes all the time, but when you don’t have a recipe, or even a plan let you creative juices flow. You might just be surprised at what you can create.