Plant part used: seedPlant part used: seedLens culinaris · legume family
Breaking: juicy strawberries and baby spinach collide in a salad dressed with creamy avocado, crunchy toasted almonds, any cheese you fancy, and a honey-laced poppyseed dressing that has fans starting fan clubs.
My perennial number-one salad for this season — a crown it has never once lost. ♡
This strawberry-and-spinach classic first broke on these pages nearly ten years back, and it remains the undisputed champion I'll keep reprinting for decades. The cast list: heaps of ripe strawberries, tender baby spinach leaves, sliced avocado, almonds toasted in-house, onion shaved so thin it's translucent, crumbled blue cheese (goat or feta both pass the audition), plus my famous barely-sweet honey poppyseed dressing. The instant those first juicy spring berries show up, this is the story I chase — and every bite still feels like a victory lap.
chlorophyll — Trade the greens, nuts (or seeds), and cheese for your own favorites — no permission needed. Adding protein? Grilled chicken, shrimp, or bacon remain undefeated options.
Pints of ripe strawberries are in season RIGHT NOW. Let's make this gorgeous salad together!
Before we get to the full recipe filed below, here are a few briefing notes on the ingredients you will need for this strawberry salad and its poppyseed dressing…
A few ideas for customizing this strawberry salad if you're feeling adventurous…
Craving a sequel? These fruit-forward green salads are our top stories!
Each leaf is coloured by the plant part the ingredient comes from: root brown, seed black, leaf green, vine orange, bloom magenta.
Plate low and wide so the growth order of the dish reads at a glance, root to bloom.
Brush the soil from the roots and leaves under cool water - keep the skins on anything grown below the line.
Bloom the dried seeds: soak overnight, then simmer low until the pod gives but never splits.
Warm the pan with a slick of olive oil and the hardier aromatics first - onion, fennel seed, crushed chilli.
Add the roots before the leaves; each layer needs its own head start on the heat.
