Spinach-And-Shrimp Salad With Chile Dressing

I have been miserable, unable to move with an extremely painful headache.  I thought perhaps I was finally finding out how terrible a migraine was.  It had gotten steadily worse over a week; it was to the point all I could do was lay down with a cold cloth over my head and no pain medicine made a dent in the pressure and pain.  I tell you this to explain my absence from blogging and to warn you that even if you have only a headache, it could be a sinus infection!  I went to the doctor today and was given an antibiotic.  It has totally made an incredible difference in the first 24 hours!  I also tell you so you can again appreciate my wonderful husband who not only took care of me and the kids, but cooked a new recipe so there would be an entry for tonight.  Needless to say, I wasn't very hungry, but the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen were awakening the beginnings of an appetite.  The only change we made was we used a jalapeno pepper because we had one we needed to use up.  We were worried the fact that the seeds weren't ground would make for an unpleasant crunch, but we worried for naught.  The whole thing was a really pleasant salad.  My only complaint was I would have liked more heat, but the recipe called for a pepper with more Scoville units, so that would have been fixed if we didn't use up an ingredient we had on hand.  It is nice meal because it is slightly warm and filling because of the shrimp, but still light enough that you feel good after eating it.



Spinach-And-Shrimp Salad With Chile Dressing

8 c  baby spinach (8 ounces)
1 c  frozen baby peas,thawed and drained
1/2 c  grape tomatoes,halved
1/4 c  plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1    onion,finely chopped
1    Holland or serrano chile minced
1 t  finely grated fresh ginger
1/2 t  cumin seeds
1/4 t  turmeric
2 1/2 T  fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 lb cooked large shrimp
In a large bowl, toss the spinach, peas and tomatoes. In a medium
skillet, heat the oil. Add the onion and cook over moderately high heat
until lightly golden, 4 minutes. Add the chile, ginger, cumin and
turmeric and cook for 2 minutes. Add the lemon juice and season the
dressing with salt and pepper.
Add the shrimp to the salad. Pour the warm chile dressing over the
salad,  toss well and serve at once.