This quick and easy salad highlights beautiful in-season strawberries; pairing them with peppery rocket, goat cheese, toasted walnuts and a zingy vinaigrette filled with fresh thyme and pickles shallots. Toasted pecans can be subbed in for the walnuts and honestly this vinaigrette goes well on nearly any salad!
Strawberries are coming back into season and they’re going into everything at my house! This is a really quick salad but it’s so delicious. I always toast walnuts it amplifies the flavor and enhanced the texture, don’t skip this step! I love to toast a big batch and then have lots on hand for snacking and using in recipes.
You can totally candy the walnuts with butter and sugar but I cheated and dipped them in strawberry jam right out of the oven. It kind of sizzles just a bit and hardens, giving a kiss of sweetness.
Now let’s talk about the dressing! Can I tell you that pickling shallots in vinegar is magic? It’s magic. You’ve got to do it, all the bite goes away and they’re just delicious.
If you want to prep this ahead of time make the dressing, toast those walnuts, and wash the strawberries. Assembling the rest will only take a few moments. I love the peppery kick of rocket or arugula but you can use spring greens instead or whatever green you prefer really, just not iceburg!
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Spread out the walnuts on a baking sheet. Roast for about 5 -10 min. I wanted to do a quick candied walnut but I didn’t have the time, so I cheated! I dipped the toasted walnuts into a strawberry jam immediately as they came out of the oven. The heat cooked the jam onto the nuts! Let them cool down to room temperature. Slice the strawberries. Break the goat cheese apart. In a mason jar, add chopped shallots, salt and champagne vinegar.
2. Pour in olive oil.
3. Add thyme leaves and shake. Let it sit for about 10 minutes to let vinegar pickle the shallots.
If you’ve tried these cookies then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Strawberry Salad
Ingredients
INGREDIENTS
For the Salad:
- 1 quart fresh strawberries sliced
- 2 oz goat cheese
- 5 oz arugula
- ½ cup walnuts 95g, toasted
- ¼ cup strawberry jam
For the Dressing:
- 1 shallot medium, chopped
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- ½ cup champagne vinegar
- 1 sprig lemon thyme
Instructions
INSTRUCTIONS
For the Salad:
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Spread out the walnuts on a baking sheet. Roast for about 5 -10 min.
- I wanted to do a quick candied walnut but I didn’t have the time, so I cheated! I dipped the toasted walnuts into a strawberry jam immediately as they came out of the oven. The heat cooked the jam onto the nuts! Let them cool down to room temperature.
- Slice the strawberries. Break the goat cheese apart.
For Dressing:
- Combine shallots, olive oil, salt, champagne vinegar and thyme in a small mason jar. Shake the mixture and let it sit for about 10 minutes so that the vinegar can pickle the shallots.
For the Assembly:
- Combine all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl.
- Pour a desired amount of dressing onto the salad and toss.
This salad tastes amazing. I will definitely make this again. Thank you so much
Debra,
I’m really happy you liked it! Thanks!
John