Author Notes
I first made salads for a dining commons when I was starting high school. We had to wash the lettuce in large troughs and then smash the heads, day in, day out, regardless of the season. Rather mechanically, I would assembly one boring salad after another in little monkey bowls. Now I never want to make the same salad twice. Here is my last take on a salad using fresh cherries. Among the bacon, the nuts, the syrup, and the cheese, this recipe may not be suited for many special diets...but you could adjust some of the ingredients as needed. —Sagegreen
Ingredients
- Maplecream Dressing
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2 tablespoons
premium thick plain Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
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1 tablespoon
Extra virgin olive oil
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1 tablespoon
real maple syrup
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1 tablespoon
fresh lemon juice
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reserve juice of pitted cherries
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pinch of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
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1 teaspoon
fresh lemon zest
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1 teaspoon
chopped fresh mint leaf
- The Cherry Salad
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1 cup
fresh spinach leaves arranged in a bed
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12
pitted sweet red cherries, reserving any excess juice for the dressing
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1/4 cup
sliced and chopped red onion
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1/2
green apple, sliced and chopped, store in orange juice until needed
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1 ounce
Bulgarian sheep's feta cheese, crumpled
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1
slice cooked bacon, chopped
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1 ounce
chopped pecans
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1 tablespoon
flat leaf parsley, chopped
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1 tablespoon
fresh mint leaves, chopped chiffonade
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juice of a lemon wedge
Directions
- Maplecream Dressing
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Whisk the yogurt with the olive oil.
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Stir in the maple syrup.
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Add the remaining ingredients.
- The Cherry Salad
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Prepare a bed of spinach on the serving plate and squeeze lemon juice onto it.
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Arrange all the other salad ingredients on top.
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Ladle on the dressing. Garnish with fresh chopped herbs.
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