Growing up in India, we never really ate salad. If we did, it was more of a simple Moroccan salad – onions, tomatoes, cilantro, vinegar, salt, pepper, etc. But when I came to the US over 13 years ago, I started eating salads. I was not a fan of the iceberg lettuce, ranch dressing salad (sorry to those who are), so I would have very little just to be polite 🙂
A few years later, when I finally had my own apartment, I started experimenting with different things and salads were easy to create and experiment with. This is one of my favorite salads and I found this in a book called Perfect Salads – a collection of over 100 essential recipes. It is ‘aromatique’!!
Ingredients:
1lb 2 oz fine green beans
1 lb 2 oz strawberries
2-3 tbsp pistachios
1 small bunch fresh mint leaves
1lb 2 oz feta cheese (drained weight)
salt and pepper
Dressing:
2 tbsp raspberry vinegar
2 tsp superfine sugar
1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
pinch of salt
1/2 cup olive
Method:
1. To make the dressing, mix the vinegar, sugar, mustard and salt together in a bowl until smooth. Slowly pour in the oil, whisking constantly until the mixture has emulsified. Cover and refrigerate until required.
2. Blanch the beans in a large saucepan of salted boiling water for 1-2 minutes, so that they retain plenty of crunch. Drain and quickly toss in a large, cool bowl. Hull and halve the strawberries, then add tot he beans. Stir in the pistachios and mint leaves. Toss the salad with enough of the dressing to coat lightly.
3. Break the feta cheese into chunks and scatter over salad. Add a good grinding of pepper and serve immediately.
This salad serves 4-6 people and is delicious! Enjoy!
