Warm Spinach Salad with Pancetta and Gorgonzola

I bought Robin Miller's Quick Fix Meals probably a year ago and this is the first time I have made something from it. I have looked through it many times over the last year and marked recipes to try, but for some reason just never put them on the menu plan. Robin Miller has some great tips on how to get dinner on the table when you have a busy day and evening ahead. One of the tips in the book is prepping your meals ahead of time on the weekend and even packaging the ingredients up together so all you have to do is pull them out of the fridge and begin cooking. She also suggests making extra portions of chicken or whatever meat you are using and then cooking with it later in the week. These are fantastic ideas, I just need to put them into practice. My only complaint with the cookbook at this point is there are not enough pictures of the prepared recipes. If I see what something should look like when it's prepared, I might be more likely to try something I might otherwise have overlooked.

I wanted something quick and easy that I could eat as main dish salad and my Husband would eat as a side to his dinner tonight. The Warm Spinach Salad with Pancetta and Gorgonzola fit the bill for both of us. The dressing made from a few basic ingredients that included pancetta and shallots - I had to sub those since I didn't have red onions - was so simple yet, so flavorful. The Gorgonzola really compliments the saltiness of the pancetta. I found it filling as a main course salad and with the simplicity of it's preparation this will be something I know I can throw together without alot of forethought.

I can see this as being worthy of serving as a first course when you have company for dinner. It requires only a small amount of last minute preparation so you wouldn't be pulled away for a lengthy amount of time. If this recipe is any indication, I think I will be revisiting this cookbook more often.