Summer Salad: Raspberries & Feta

 

July 31, 2016

 

Much as I love them--and as beautiful as they are when the farmers bring them to the market--plain green salads eventually lose their ability to excite me. At that point (about now, in fact: the end of July), I start jazzing them up with other seasonal bounty.

 

This one (and isn't it pretty?) has at its heart a head of that gorgeous summer lettuce with the red-edged ruffled leaves. I tore the red-tinged greens into the bowl and added thin slices of (raw) zucchini and radish. The dressing was my usual: a big forkful of Dijon mustard, two tablespoons of balsamic, and five or six tablespoons of Tuscan olive oil, all whisked together until they were emulsified .

 

After I dressed and tossed the salad, I sprinkled a pint of raspberries over the top* and then crumbled a chunk of feta cheese** (about a two-inch cube) on top of the raspberries. The sweet fruit, the salty feta, and the tart dressing brought new excitement to my midsummer green salad.

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*I didn't want to toss the raspberries into the salad because dead-ripe raspberries are so fragile. So they went on top. They got mixed in sufficiently when the salad was served onto the plates.

 

**We buy sheep's milk feta, having tried many versions of feta in the past. You can spend a lifetime hunting down your very own favourite feta--not a bad hobby. Other foods to hunt out: your favourite balsamic vinegar, olive oil, coffee, yogurt, etc. And of course once you decide on a favourite, your retailer will stop carrying it, so you have to start all over again.