Strawberries, goats’ cheese & thyme: Queen of all summer salads.
We’d heard whispers about strawberry salads but until last week we hadn’t given one a go ourselves... However, now that we know what all the fuss is about - and wow is it justified! - we shall be enjoying this vegcentric recipe every summer hence! Sweet, juicy, tart, playful and quintessentially English - strawberry salads are a true delight.
Crisp romaine or butterhead lettuce and tender baby spinach form the base of this vegcentric salad; roasted seeds bring a wonderful nutty flavour; and fragrant thyme croutons - rich with olive oil - bring crunch, heft, and deliciously satiating fat to the party.
And what to pair with it? To be honest, this one wrote itself! Could it be anything other than a glass of crisp, perfectly chilled English sparkling rosé? We think not.
Pairing fizz with food is too often overlooked. The ultra chilled serving temperature and vivacious mousse - aka the bubbles - refresh the palate between each bite leaving you ready for another delicious mouthful. And the bracing acidity of English fizz cuts through the creamy goat’s cheese and offsets the sweet balsamic dressing.
Champagne-style sparkling rosé is made with a blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, and Pinot Noir; the red grapes (that’s the Pinots) lend red fruit flavours to the wine which echo those in the salad.
There are many very good English sparkling rosés; Nyetimber’s rosé is absolutely exquisite and unquestionably the leader of the pack; it has a softer, rounded texture, buttery English shortbread notes, and bursts with strawberries warm from the patch. This Eight Acres rosé was very drinkable too; it has razor sharp acidity and mouth-puckering red fruit flavours - think tart cranberries and sour strawberries - which cut through the creamy goats’ cheese very nicely indeed.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
This recipe serves 4
Ingredients :
2 heaped tbsp sunflower seeds
2 heaped tbsp pumpkin seeds
90 ml balsamic vinegar
25-30 g sugar (2 heaped tbsp)
1 tsp flakey sea salt
4 slices sourdough
4 tbsp olive oil
6-8 sprigs fresh thyme
150 g baby spinach
200 g lettuce, or 2 small heads of lettuce
120 g goat’s cheese
300 g ripe red strawberries
4 sprigs fresh mint, optional
Black pepper
Method:
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees, and once hot roast the seeds for 6-8 minutes until slightly golden and smelling toasty.
Combine the balsamic vinegar, sugar and ¼ teaspoon of flakey sea salt in your smallest saucepan and bring to a simmer over a low heat. Simmer for 1-2 minutes only, just until the balsamic has roughly reduced by half and looks syrupy.
Next, prepare the croutons. Turn the oven up to 180 degrees, chop or tear the sourdough, and strip the thyme leaves from their stalks. Toss with 4 tablespoons of olive oil and season with ½ teaspoon flakey sea salt. Roast in the hot oven for 6-10 minutes until golden.
Now prepare the fresh elements: rinse the spinach and lettuce if need be and roughly chop; de-stem and slice the strawberries; crumble the goat’s cheese. If you are adding some fresh mint chop this now too.
Once the seeds, balsamic glaze, and croutons are all cool, toss everything together with a drizzle or two of olive oil, a pinch of sea salt and many generous twists of black pepper.
Enjoy immediately with a long glass of very well chilled English sparkling rosé.
