Summer Salad

My inspiration for this salad came from two places, I found this picture on TasteSpotting and I remembered a salad I had eaten at Nemo in South Beach. The above picture was originally located on a food blog completely in Finnish and none of the online translators could translate it fully, so I improvised.

This experiment turned out smashingly well. I took it to the inlaws' for hubby's dad's birthday dinner, and everyone loved it. Considering it was a super hot day this was refreshing to eat, and just the right flavor mixture with the sweetness of the watermelon and the saltiness of the feta.

Watermelon and Feta Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Spinach, fresh greens or Butter Lettuce
Watermelon - cut into triangles about 1/4" thick and about 2" across
Feta Cheese - cut the block in half diagonally to create a triangle, then slice 1/8" thick
Toasted nuts/seeds - (I used pine nuts and pumpkin seeds)

Dressing
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced (depending on how garlic-y you want it)
1 teaspoon coarse salt (I used Kosher salt because that's what was in the cupboard)
Pinch of freshly cracked pepper (I used normal pepper)

Combine everything in a bowl and whisk together until blended. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To toast the nuts: simply place them in a skillet on med/hi heat. Pine nuts will start to look toasted and raw pumpkin seeds (de-hulled) will pop and crackle in the pan. It should take only 2-5 minutes to toast both.

Pour the dressing on the spinach/lettuce and mix it up so the greens are coated. Next, sprinkle the nuts on top and finally place the watermelon and feta on top.

I'm cautious of throwing it all in the bowl and mixing it up that way because I was scared of wrecking the cheese and watermelon triangles.

Next time if I serve this at my place I'd like to serve it up individually on plates so it would look nicer.

Chicken Satay Skewers and Strawberry Mushroom Salad

Last night I tried out the Satay Skewers from Good things Catered.
They were really yummy...however beware 'Curry Nail' *

*Curry nail occurs when you submerge your hands in anything with curry. They will turn yellow. I instantly panicked because not 2 hours before I just got my gel nails done and now they were a hideous shade of yellow. I ran to the bathroom and grabbed my nail polish remover and it came right off. Whew, crisis averted.

You can visit the link above to see the recipe for Satay Skewers, because her pictures are much nicer. I will however share my recipe for the Strawberry and Mushroom Salad.


As I may have mentioned before, I'm an 'avant garde' kinda chef...I don't really measure things, I like to experiment. I got the recipe from my BFF when I went to visit her last summer.

You'll need:

Spinach
Goat Cheese
7-10 Strawberries
7-10 Mushrooms
Sliced almonds or whatever nuts/seeds you have lying around

Dressing
Balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Brown Sugar
Clove of garlic (minced or put through a garlic press)
Pinch of salt

The quantity of everything depends solely on how many people you are serving. I go by 'parts' for the dressing - one part balsamic, two parts brown sugar and three parts oil. If it's just the hubby and me for dinner I'll usually use the 1/4 cup and measure everything out and it usually is more than enough. Recently I've started using less oil because I just love the taste of balsamic vinegar and also it was making way too much dressing for the two of us. So I have been doing 1/4 cup balsamic, 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup oil.

Now that you have decided how much you will need, throw all of the dressing ingredients in a blender (because I am wayyyyy to lazy to whisk it) and blend it until its...well...blended.

The salad is a very visual thing for me. You have to eyeball it and think about who is going to be eating it and approximate how much they'll eat. I put about 3/4 of a bag of spinach in a bowl (I use bagged spinach because I have not had much success with washing/drying spinach, plus as aformentioned, I'm lazy) and then I cut up the mushrooms, and strawberries and throw it on top.

I then sprinkle on sliced almonds usually...if I don't have any almonds, I've used pine nuts and flax seeds. Really, anything goes for the nuts/seeds portion of the salad. I imagine pumpkin seeds (especially toasted ones) would be fabulous. Again for the quantity, just put in as much as your little heart desires. There's no magic formula and it's not rocket science. It's a salad. If you really want to know how much, I will just grab a handful and sprinkle it around the bowl. That should be enough.

Lastly crumble the goat cheese on top. You can use a fork to scrape the cheese away so it crumbles nicely, or as I recently discovered, use your hands. Using your hands is fun because then you get to lick your fingers! How much do you like goat cheese? If you love it, then pile it on. The more the better. If you're so/so on goat cheese, then just sprinkle enough to cover the top. It really adds a nice flavor once you add the dressing.

When it comes to the dressing, I like to keep it seperate and pour it on once I've 'dished up'. There's nothing worse than having too much dressing or soggy salad. Spinach is particularly prone to sogginess.

This salad is fantastic as a main course when you add some grilled chicken or - my favorite - Beer Butt Chicken (recipe coming soon).