Strawberry Spinach Salad

Spinach though extremely healthy can be quite boring. I believe food should always be tasty be it boiled, steamed or raw, there are a lot of things you can do and add to basic bland food to make it tasty. I have already shown you how to make a spinach smoothie before on this recipe so today am showing you another quick recipe on how to make that bland raw spinach full of flavour, it does not hurt that it’s a healthy salad. For the dressing I used a balsamic reduction, check how to make it here, it goes well with the sweetness and slight tartness of the strawberries. The sunflower seeds added a bit of crunch and the cheese brought the richness that balanced out the sweet/tart flavours. You can basically swap any of the ingredients for whatever you like – the strawberries for any berries, ricotta for goat cheese, sunflower seeds for pine nuts, pumpkin seeds or whichever nuts you like. Basically all the remains constant is the spinach, ok it can also be swapped for arugula but the balsamic reduction stays the same.

Hope you try this recipe and like the outcome. This recipe serves 2 but you can scale it up or half it to fit your needs.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Print This

Yield: 2 Prep Time: 20 mins Cooking Time: 10 Mins

TOOLS & INGREDIENTS

Ingredients

• 1 cup of spinach, firmly packed
• 10g – 20g of radish, thinly sliced -> around 2 – 3 small radish
• 70g – 100g of cherry tomatoes, quartered or halved -> around 7 – 10 cherry tomatoes
• 60g – 85g of strawberries, quartered -> around 5-7 medium strawberries
• 4 tablespoons of hulled sunflower seeds
• 4 tablespoons of ricotta cheese
• 4 teaspoons of parmesan cheese, grated
• 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of balsamic reduction (recipe here)
• A few cucumber and carrot ribbons for garnish (optional)

PROCEDURE

1. Place the spinach in bowl
   

2. Add the strawberries, radish and cherry tomatoes.
   
   

   

   
3. Sprinkle the sunflower seeds and ricotta cheese.
   

4. Pour the olive oil and balsamic reduction then sprinkle the parmesan cheese.
   
   

   
5. Toss it all together ensuring all the ingredients are well distributed.
6. [Optional Step] Garnish with a few cucumber and carrot ribbons (Use a mandolin, extra thin slicer in a food processor or a vegetable peeler to make the thin, vertical sliced ribbons).

Notes

- Do not overdress your salad, you just want a touch of the dressing leaving the vegetables crisp.
- Dry the vegetables as much as possible to prevent a soggy salad. If you have a salad spinner spin the spinach first.