Photo by Tess van Donkelaar
This salad was actually completely spontaneous. I’m back home for the summer, and my mom has a habit of drinking excessive amounts of coffee and nibbling on rice cakes with peanut butter in the morning, then transitions to snacking on cheese and crackers while sipping wine in the evenings.
Basically, she’s living that good lyfe. I’m guessing she should probably write a book, because she seems to have it all figured out.
But sometimes, at lunch, I take the time to intervene and feed her something that isn’t a member of the beige/brown/taupe colour palette. I suppose you could count wine as a fruit serving, but let’s be honest with ourselves.
I was surprised to find the beets that I’d picked up from the farmer’s market were actually candy cane beets, which made this salad that much more beautiful. Of course, any old beets will taste and feel identical.
Similarly, I had goat feta on hand, but again, normal cow milk feta is a fair replacement. Same with the nectarines -if you want to swap them out for peaches, apricots, plums, pluots, or even cherries, by all means do so. No cilantro? Basil or mint are your friends.
As with most salads, what you’re going for is a certain combination of flavours and textures, so don’t stress if you don’t quite have every precise ingredient in this recipe.
Chopped Summer Salad
Ingredients
Instructions
Assemble all of your ingredients. Slice and chop the veggies and fruit, remove the leaves from the cilantro, and get a bowl ready.
To your bowl, add the spinach, pile on the pepper, throw down the sliced beets, hock on the nectarine, and then top with crumbled feta and cilantro. Give ‘er a good drizzle of olive oil and add salt and pepper to your liking.