Spring salad with Strawberries and edible flowers
This Spring Salad with Strawberries & edible flowers is made of fresh lamb’s lettuce, sweet strawberries, edible pansy flowers creamy mozzarella, and drizzled punchy Balsamic vinegar, will make your mouth water just by looking at it.
Fresh and vibrant Spring salad has the perfect amount of sweetness from the dressing and Strawberries, combined with lovely savory elements from fresh mozzarella cheese and toasted seeds. With the extra help of edible flowers this salad is an attractive starter or a light side dish to your mains.
I’m quite confident to say this recipe will make you fall in love with salads all over again and I hope you’ll keep this recipe a staple of the season.
Sun’s out, salad’s out and the eating gets lighter!
Are you just as excited as I am?
Ingredients for a Strawberry spring salad
- Greens: I chose lovely shaped Lamb’s lettuce, since I love it’s taste and soft texture.
- Strawberries: adding these crowd-pleasing beauties will give your salad a resfreshing and sweet component, and an eye catching visual element. Their passionate red color brings a contrast to greens, and creates so much positive eneregy on a plate (and in your belly!).
- Mini Mozzarella: This soft, mild tasting and slightly chewy cheese is my favorite type for mixed salads. I love how it’s flavor compliments sweet strawberries and balsamic vinegar in the dressing.
- Dressing: we’re keeping it simple here. Balsamic vinegar, mixed with olive oil is such an amazing ingredient, which introduces creamy mozzarella cheese to scrumptious strawberries and watch them become besties :).
- Seeds: I love adding crunchy and slightly toasted seeds to my salads, but these salted roasted sunflower seeds are something else. They add that ‘oomph’ factor to your meal.
- Edible flowers: Gentle white-yellow pansy flower were my choice for adding another component to this simple meal. These edible cuties start growing in March, but their best season in right around the corner. Seek for these beauties in May and June, or simply grow them in your floral garden.
How to style spring salads
If you’re serving this Strawberry salad at your barbeque party or spring brunch table, you’ll probably want to make every dish looks as appealing as it can be.
Flowers are the best way to make your salads irresistibly beautiful and the most inviting part of your menu. I love adding flowers even to my daily salad (one a day keeps the doctors away, right?) since I believe eating starts with our eyes.
Tips for styling salads with flowers
- make sure you are using clean and edible flowers
- always add flowers right before serving the salad, so they don’t become soggy
- think about the power of colors and pick the flowers that look good with green lettuce and red strawberries.
Do you want to know exactly to style all types of food with flowers?
Read my article here and start using romantic flowers in food styling like an artist.
Where to buy edible flowers for salads
First, let’s chat about a E0c8be: just because a flower is labeled as ‘edible’, it doesn’t make it safe to eat. They must be specifically grown for human consumption.
For example, Roses are concidered as edible flowers, but store bought petals are sprayed with toxic pesticides and that makes them unsafe to eat.
All edible flowers must be labeled as ‘safe for human consumption, if purchased.
I suggest finding local micro-plant and edible flowers stores and buy from reliable source.
Do you love eating in any restaurant or a bistro, where they use edible flowers in their plating art? Ask them where they buy their edible petals and write down their suggestion.
Light spring salad recipe in 4 simple steps
1. Wash the lamb’s lettuce and put it into a salad bowl.
Wash and cut strawberries in quarters and put them in a bowl.
2. Using your hands divide mini mozzarellas into halves and add them to the bowl.
3. Prepare the Balsamic vinaigrette: in a small jar combine Olive oil with Balsamic vinegar, salt, and black pepper. Close the jar with a lid and simply shake it to mix everything into a dressing
4. Season the salad with the Balsamic vinaigrette, sprinkle it with roasted Sunflower seeds, and garnish the salad with colorful edible flowers.
Customizing Strawberry salad
As written at the beginning of this post, the salad recipe is meant to be enjoyed as a starter or a side dish. You can easily turn the salad into a main dish by:
- adding some grilled chicken or
- a portion of cooked grains like quinoa or wild rice.
If you can find lamb’s lettuce you can easily substitute it with fresh Arugula or baby Spinach.
What to serve with Strawberry salad
As this salad recipe is considered an appetizer, I suggest you serve it with fresh baked Foccacia, sourdough crackers, or homemade grisinni.
Here are some of my recommendations:
Meal prep and storage ideas
• To Make Ahead: Dress the salad as shortly before serving as you can.
If you don’t plan to eat it all right away, dress only in what you plan to eat right away.
• To Store: Store the leftover, undressed salad in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Refrigerate any leftover dressing in an airtight container (a jar is perfect) for up to 5 days,
then shake before serving.
Other salad recipes have to try
Burrata salad with Aromatic oil
Spring salad with Strawberries
Equipment
- 1 big bowl
- 1 knife
- 1 small bowl for mixing the dressing
- 4 small salad bowls
Ingredients
For the salad
- 200 g Lamb's lettuce washed
- 6 pcs Strawberries sliced
- 300 g mini Mozzarella balls
- 4 tbsp toasted sunflower seeds
For the dressing
- 4 tbsp Olive oil
- 160 ml dark balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
Decoration
- 1 handful edible flowers
Instructions
- Wash the lamb's lettuce and put it into a salad bowl.
- Wash and cut strawberries and put them in a bowl.
- Using your hands divide mini mozzarellas into halves and them into the bowl.
- Add the roasted sunflower kernels and season the salad with salt and pepper, according to your liking.
- You can garnish the salad with some edible flowers.