Summer salad

Summer salad

30 min
This summer salad with salad cheese, rocket, spinach, peas, cherry tomatoes, spring onions, and, of course, strawberries, is one of the very best salads to serve for a summer party, BBQ night, or simply when you are in the mood for something light and summery. Tossed with a simple, yet delicious, homemade vinaigrette and sprinkled with salty salad cheese, it is packed with flavour. Try it when you need a colourful main course or side dish that will invigorate and refresh you and yours during summertime.
https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/recipes/summer-salad/

Instructions

Summer salad with strawberries
  • Arrange the rocket, spinach, peas, tomatoes, strawberries, and spring onions in a large serving dish.
  • Sprinkle the salad cheese on top.
Dressing
  • Mix oil, vinegar, and the remaining ingredients and season to taste.
  • Pour the dressing over the salad and serve it.
Recommended information

Serving Suggestion

Chicken skewers
30 min
Chicken skewers
(0)
Enjoy!
Tips

This recipe is not complete without a flavourful dressing. To make the perfect vinaigrette, always use high-quality ingredients. How good it tastes will depend largely on the quality of the ingredients you use, so choose good olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and mustard and use freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Tips

Make sure to mix the vinaigrette thoroughly to ensure that all of the ingredients are well-combined, and the flavours are evenly distributed. You can, for instance, make it in a small shaker or a jam jar with a lid to easily shake everything together.

Questions about summer salad

With an easy summer salad recipe in your repertoire, making a delightful main course or side dish that is perfect for warm summer nights is quick and simple. Learn more about summer salads below where we have answered the most frequently asked questions about them.

What is a summer salad?
A summer salad is made with fresh and seasonal ingredients that are abundant during summer. Our version features a variety of colourful fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, strawberries, and leafy greens dressed in a light vinaigrette with mustard. It can be served as a light and refreshing starter or as a side dish to grilled meats, seafood, or vegetables. It is popular during the summer months due to its fresh and vibrant flavours and ability to showcase the best of the season's produce.
How to make a summer salad?
An invigorating, fresh salad for summer evenings is just the thing after a hot day; and it is just as easy as it is delicious. Find a large serving dish in which to arrange the baby spinach leaves, rocket, shelled peas, halved cherry tomatoes, fresh strawberries, and slices of spring onions. Sprinkle with salty, herby salad cheese for a fresh addition. Prepare the summer salad vinaigrette by mixing the ingredients well, season it to taste, and drizzle over the greens.
How to make a summer salad dressing?
Tasty salads become even better when dressed with a dressing to tie all the different flavours together. If you want to keep things light, fresh, and perfect for summer, a vinaigrette is just the thing. Fortunately, making a homemade summer salad dressing is wonderfully easy! Simply mix olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and mustard. Season with salt and pepper to ensure a well-balanced dressing and make the dish’s flavours pop.
What are some summer salad side dishes?
There are different ways to serve a fresh and delicious summer salad. The classic version is to serve with grilled meat like steak or chicken, or seafood like salmon, cod, tuna, or shrimp. For a lighter option, add pasta or serve it with slices of crusty bread to add texture. Grilled vegetables like courgettes, peppers, and asparagus also make for great sides.

Ingredients

Summer salad with strawberries
Rinsed rocket
100 g
Rinsed baby spinach leaves
100 g
Shelled, fresh peas
200 g
Red and yellow cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
400 g
Spring onions (approx. 100 g), cut into slices
1 bundle
200 g
Dressing
Olive oil
1 tbsp
White balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp
Freshly squeezed lemon juice (Approx.)
1 tbsp
Mustard
1 tsp
Coarse salt (to taste)
Freshly ground pepper (to taste)

Fresh summer salad with strawberries and salad cheese

This refreshing summer salad with strawberries and greens makes for a great lunch or dinner dish. You can serve it as a refreshing starter for a smaller group of friends and family or use it as a light side dish for a crowd. No matter how you serve it, it tastes wonderful. The combination of fresh and crunchy vegetables, sweet strawberries, and salty, tangy salad cheese with herbs is mouth-wateringly good and sure to refreshen you after a warm day spent in the sun.

If you are looking for other great salad ideas for your summer party menu or cosy picnic, we suggest having a look at some of our other summer recipes. If you like the idea of using fruit in your salads, you should try our salad with melon and cucumber or our thirst-quenching watermelon salad.

Whip up an easy salad with fresh summer ingredients

Making a delicious summer salad for dinner is easy in the summertime when fresh ingredients are plentiful, not to mention bursting with flavour. The sun-ripened produce used in this spinach summer salad with cherry tomatoes is what truly sets it apart from other salads.

The combination of peppery rocket, earthy baby spinach and peas, sweet strawberries, and bright spring onions is wonderfully fresh as well as complex. The rocket and spinach form the robust base of the dish as the decorative strawberries enhance it with their sweet taste, tender texture, and the scent of summer, while the spring onions introduce a crisp texture and a subtle onion flavour with a little sharpness that is in no way overpowering.

Quick vinaigrette with mustard and lemon juice

Mixing a vinaigrette is incredibly easy. A vinaigrette is a type of dressing made by mixing oil, vinegar, and other seasonings or flavourings, in this case, lemon juice and mustard. The best summer salad dressing must be light and bright, making this vinaigrette the perfect choice for this particular summer salad with strawberries and salad cheese, perfectly complementing its light yet complex flavours.

Since this vinaigrette is made with rich, smooth olive oil, sweet and tart white balsamic vinegar, and zesty, acidic lemon juice, you get a dressing that hits the mark perfectly. The aromatic mustard adds a pungent and slightly spicy taste to the dressing, deepening its flavours and giving it additional complexity. It also helps emulsify the oil and vinegar to create a well-combined dressing with a well-rounded, slightly tangy taste to brighten this delicious summer salad.

Delicious ways to serve summer salad

A tasty way to serve this is with grilled meat. A light summer salad with steak, pork, ribs, chicken, or the like that has been perfectly cooked on the grill makes for a great combination. The crunch and freshness of the salad combined with the smoky flavours of the grilled meat is the epitome of summer, so try, for example, our grilled spareribs or spiced lamb skewers.

It is also perfect with grilled fish and seafood. Experiment with pairing it with rich, buttery grilled salmon, flaky cod, mild halibut, meaty tuna, or sweet and salty shrimp, depending on which kind of seafood you like best.

You might also like to serve it with slices of crusty bread to add a bit of additional bite and texture. You can try our savoury olive bread with thyme, adding both flavour and texture to the summer salad.

Experiment with different berries and fresh herbs

This sweet and tasty summer salad can easily be varied by experimenting with what produce is in season, for example, summer berries, vegetables, and herbs.

To mix it up, a blueberry summer salad is a popular variation. Blueberries have a slightly tart and tangy flavour, with subtle notes of sweetness and earthiness. Their complex flavour profile works well in this summer salad. In addition to being tasty, blueberries are also a beautiful addition with their bold, dark blue colour set against a bed of bright greens.

If you would like to use fresh herbs, we highly suggest making a simple summer salad with basil. This sweet and slightly spicy herb is great in salads like this one as it both complements and off-sets the flavours of the fresh greens and strawberries.

It will also taste great with fresh herbs like mint and lemon verbena. The former adds a refreshing and cooling flavour that pairs nicely with the peppery undertones of the rocket and the mustard-flavoured vinaigrette. The latter has a citrusy and floral flavour that perfectly balances the sweetness of the strawberries and mirrors the acidity of the freshly squeezed lemon juice in the vinaigrette.