Summer is for salads! And this one has got the most treasured summer ingredient in our household, at least so far, strawberries. I am always so excited when they start selling Swedish strawberries again after the long wait since last summer and this strawberry salad is a tribute to this long awaited berry.

It’s created in a way that it will fill you up as a main by adding quinoa and beluga lentils to the mix. It’s also got lots of greens, cucumber, tomato and avocado to really put us into the summer salad spirit. If you did want to serve it as a side salad I would suggest just omitting the quinoa and lentils for a lighter, but equally delicious, version and use onoly about half of the dressing.

Speaking of the dressing – it is a simple vinaigrette made a little more fun by adding some poppy seeds. The seeds are great paired with strawberries and look festive too but if you don’t have any on hand you can leave them out without it changing the dish too much.

If you want more salad inspiration for the coming months of craving cool, crunchy and crispy foods then check out this post all about salads. Now enjoy!

Malin x

Strawberry Summer Salad

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

For the vinaigrette:

0,25 cup avocado oil

0,25 cup white wine vinegar

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp maple syrup

1 tsp poppy seeds

Salt, to taste

For the salad:

1-2 gem lettuce heads, depending on their size

4 handfuls of mixed baby greens

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 cup cooked beluga lentils

0,5 large cucumber

250 g cherry tomatoes

250 g fresh strawberries

2 avocados

Top with:

Fresh basil leaves

Roasted and salted pistachios

Vegan feta cheese, optional

METHOD:

Combine all the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a jar and shake to combine and emulsify. Salt to taste and set aside.

Clean and chop up the gem lettuce. Add it to a large mixing bowl along with the baby greens, quinoa and lentils. Use a vegetable peeler to shave the cucumber into ribbons and add to the bowl as well.

Pour two thirds of the vinaigrette over the salad base in the bowl and toss to coat. Then divide the salad base into four individual bowls.

Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. Remove the green tops from the strawberries and half them if small and quarter if larger. Open and cube or slice the avocados. Spread the chopped veggies evenly across the four bowls.

Finally top with some fresh basil leaves and pistachios. If you wish you could also crumble some vegan feta over the salads for some extra creaminess and saltiness. Finish off by drizzling the rest of the dressing over the bowls and serve immediately.

dinner fresh lentil lunch poppy seed quinoa salad satisfying strawberries summer vinaigrette