Summer Salads and Strawberry Blueberry Vinaigrette
I planned to make something new and delicious this week, but I was writing instead. That excuses me, doesn't it?
Plus, I went to the farmer's market this weekend and the first strawberries of the season were there. Along with rows of gorgeous flowers.
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| Some of these came home with me! |
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| Don't look at the prices. Rather horrifying. |
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| So sweet. |
So I had to do something with strawberries. So, in honor of them (and the blueberries appearing on my supermarket shelf thanks to my southern friends), I bring you this delicious repeat.
A few weeks ago, we ordered salads at work and I got one that had blueberry vinaigrette with red onions and feta cheese. It sounds like an odd combination, but it was very tasty. (Although way too many red onions made their way into my serving. It looked like an onion party at the bottom of the bowl when I was done!)
So fast forward to this Sunday. I had some luscious looking strawberries from the farmer's market.
Emphasis on looking. They didn't taste quite as sweet as they looked, but they were good and were the first of the season, so all is forgiven. Plus they made an amazing vinaigrette!
I had lettuce - romaine and red leaf. To that I added slices of avocado and diced red onion. I sliced some strawberries on top. Because I was making this a meal, I also added in some pieces of my salmon burger.
It sure looked pretty.
But the best part was yet to come. I finally found a use for those Talenti jars that have been mysteriously accumulating. :)
First I mashed some blueberries and strawberries. I added them to the jar with some red wine vinegar and olive oil to taste. I mashed some more, then put the lid on and shook.
I drizzled it over the salad. (Doesn't that sound like a fancy chef word? I drizzled it. Better than I dumped it on top.)
The salad was so delicious and so refreshing that I made it again on Monday. This time I added sliced almonds and they gave it a fabulously satisfying crunch.
Oh - the red onion added just the bite the salad needed. I accidentally left them out on the second night and their absence was noted. :(
I've noticed that I tend towards adding fruit to salad. Am I alone in that or is that a habit for anyone else?
Want other strawberry salad ideas? Mary Jane shared one a few weeks ago for strawberries, spinach and goat cheese.
No strawberries up here yet...end of June hopefully. We have had so much more rain this spring though, I'm not sure if that will effect the strawberry crops. Praying not.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, before I started hanging out at the cafe I only had one salad recipe that included fruit -- spinach and oranges. But you guys have broadened my horizons considerably so who knows that the future holds?
Though I remember reading some food guru claiming that it was unhealthy to eat fruit and vegetables at the same time. Did you ever hear that? And you shouldn't have them within four hours of each other? Maybe a fad vegetarian thing.
That's intriguing, Kav. I'd never heard that (or at least I don't remember), but I did a little googling and found some interesting ideas about how to combine food for maximum benefits. They did say salad greens were okay to mix with fruit. Thanks for mentioning it.
ReplyDeleteI'm a day late! We've been doing yard work all week.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so good!!! I rarely think to make my own salad dressing. I need to do so more often just for variety.