End of Summer Strawberry Salad

Well it's just about freezing here in Amsterdam, still sunny though! We decided to have one last shot at bringing some summer into the house. Last night we made a strawberry and soft goat cheese salad which was super nice and quite refreshing. The lettuce was a mixture of mâche and baby greens so the whole feel was quite tender. 

Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad

2 people

salad

100gr mixed baby lettuce

10 - 15 strawberries

100gr soft goat cheese

1 handful chopped and toasted walnuts

2 handfuls home made croutons

dressing

1/4 cup olive oil

3tbsp balsamic vinegar

2tsp honey

salt to taste

pepper to taste

croutons

1/4 a whole wheat baguette

oregano

salt to taste

olive oil to coat the pan

First I would suggest to make the dressing. The easiest and least clean-up required way, is to take the bowl you will serve the salad in and put your oil/vinegar etc. in and whisk it around a bit then taste to see if you like it and adjust it if you don't. Once your dressing is done you can empty your lettuce into the bowl on top of it and it won't wilt and you've saved yourself a dressing bowl! The croutons come next. Cut your bread into small cubes and fry it in as much olive oil as it takes to crisp it up. I would say about 1 - 2 table spoons. When the bread is fried, season it with your herbs and salt and let it stand until it cools down a bit. At this point you should also quickly toast up your walnuts and let them cool a bit. 

Clean up your strawberries and chuck them into the awaiting lettuce, put in the croutons, walnuts and crumbled goat cheese and gently toss it so the dressing on the bottom is evenly distributed all over. You can drizzle a bit more balsamic vinegar on top if you would like. And it's all done!

Try a Beaujolais wine to go with this salad, it's fresh and fruity and goes well with strawberries.

Enjoy!

Martina & Andreas