Author Notes
At Aroha Restaurant in Westlake, California, Chef Gwithyen Thomas serves this salad with goat cheese and candied walnuts. As a nod to New Zealand’s long tradition of sheep farming, we’ve substituted sheep’s milk farmer’s cheese (or ricotta) for the goat cheese, and pistachios for the candied walnuts.
There’s a lot going on in this simple salad—sweet fresh berries, tangy cheese, bitter salad greens—but there is a wine versatile enough to stand up to all of these elements. A fruiter, New World-style New Zealand rosé (we paired the Villa Maria Private Bin Rosé with it), rather than a dry, pale Provençal rendition, would fit the bill nicely: Forward berry aromatics and flavors in the wine will echo those of the salad’s strawberries, and light vanilla/cream notes in the wine will marry nicely with the vinaigrette’s fresh vanilla bean flavor. Arugula’s peppery bite reins in the sweetness and creaminess nicely. —Food52
Ingredients
- For the Champagne vanilla dressing:
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1
vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
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3/4 cup
extra virgin olive oil
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4 tablespoons
Champagne vinegar
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1 tablespoon
hot water
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1/2 tablespoon
honey
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1/2 teaspoon
Dijon mustard
- For the salad:
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2 cups
sliced strawberries
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2 cups
baby arugula
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2 ounces
sheep's milk farmer’s cheese (or ricotta cheese), crumbled
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1 cup
pistachios, shelled
Directions
- For the Champagne vanilla dressing:
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Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds.
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Combine vanilla bean seeds, Champagne vinegar, honey, and Dijon mustard in a mixing bowl. Slowly add the extra virgin olive oil and hot water to mix, using a handheld blender on high.
- For the salad:
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Combine strawberries, arugula, and pistachios in a bowl. Add dressing to taste and toss salad.
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Transfer to individual salad plates, top with crumbled cheese, and serve.
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