Spinach Salad with Benne Vinaigrette and Fried Okra Croutons

Spinach is one of the most common fall and winter crops on the Sea Island truck farms of the lowcountry. The dressing for this salad is flavored with garlic, lemon, and toasted benne; the fried okra topping is a last farewell to the food’s of summer. If you can’t find perfectly blemish-free okra, use frozen.

The corn flour is a very fine grind of cornmeal. If you can’t find it, pulse some cornmeal to a finer grind in a blender.