This salad could be a starter salad, or would be good as part of a lunch on a warm day with grilled chicken. At dinner, this would be a great way to bridge a salad and dessert course, or could come before the cheese in lieu of dessert. This is a very simple recipe, but that is so the flavors of each ingredient shines through. It may seem odd to use lettuce, but the faintly bitter and mineral-y flavor and the gentle crunch of the butter lettuce is a great foil to the sweetness and texture of the berries. If you wanted to add something to the salad, some chopped roasted almonds, pistachios, or hazelnuts would work with the sweet nutty flavor adding a bottom note to the ensemble.
INGREDIENTS:
1 head red butterleaf lettuce, soft inner leaves only, washed and well dried 1 package blueberries, washed and dried An equal volume of strawberries, washed and dried ½ cup Creamy Mint Dressing v.2.0, or as needed (see recipe) Pepper to taste A few drops Balsamic reduction as needed (see recipe)
METHOD:
Stack the lettuce leaves and cut into ¼ inch ribbons. Keep cold until ready to use.
Trim the tops from the strawberries and cut the strawberries into cubes roughly the same size as the blueberries. Toss the berries together gently to evenly mix them.
Put piles of lettuce onto the centers of 4 chilled plates, and use your fingers to form the lettuce into little nests.
Divide the berries between the 4 plates, piling the berries into the centers of the nests.
Drizzle the salads with dressing, getting a little more onto the lettuce. Lightly pepper the salads, and then use a squeeze bottle or eyedropper to place balsamic reduction drops around the plate and onto the berries. If you are using nuts, add them now, then serve the salad while still chilled.
Chef’s notes:
If you wanted to serve a small amount of this salad as an intermezzo or small starter, serving it in an old fashioned sherbet glass or a coupé glass would look quite elegant.
Serves: 4
Source: Chef Andrew E Cohen
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