4-INGREDIENT STRAWBERRY ARUGULA SALAD WITH FETA

This post is also available in: Italiano

The sweetness of fresh ripe strawberries, the almost peppery flavor of arugula, the saltiness of feta cheese. Not to mention the delicious balsamic vinaigrette.
Pure JOY for our mouth.
Want to bring some Spring on your table? Then you definitely need a strawberry arugula salad… today!

Strawberry arugula salad to bring some Spring into your life!

I’m always excited when Spring’s food comes. It’s fresh and it’s what our body need in this particular period.
This year, apparently, Spring decided to be late, at least here in Italy. We just had an HORRIBLE weekend: sky full of grey clouds, rain, hailstorms, rain, rain…
Yeah, I would appreciate this weather… in November though! sigh

Because I wanted to bring some Spring into our days, last week I decided to make this strawberry arugula salad for me and my boyfriend.

Remember when I shared with you my heavenly sweet potato, pecans, spinach salad back at the beginning of March? Remember that I told you I prepared it right before lunch, then put it into an airtight container and boyfriend brought it at work?
Well, same happened last week. And bf said it was DELISH (almost 7 hours later)!

Therefore, once again, you can consider it a perfect meal to “meal-prep”. Like I said two months ago, though, if you prepare it in advance avoid combining immediately feta cheese and vinaigrette, otherwise the greens will “dunk”. Season it right before eating it.

Why is this strawberry arugula salad so special?

I mean, look at the colors. Close your eyes. And imagine the flavors. It’s a party – a festival! – for our mouth! The Coachella of the salads! lol

Read the next paragraphs, you’ll never again have a dull salad!

The 5 essential steps to create the perfect salad:

The only way not to have a boring salad – who wants a dull salad?! duh – is to combine each of the macronutrients (like I mentioned 2 months ago) and each of the five flavors that our taste buds are able to perceive: saltiness, bitterness, sourness, umami and sweetness.

1. Choose your greens: there are so many you can use – spinach, lettuce…
2. Add some carbs: potatoes, barley, spelt or… fruit!
3. Now add fats: extra virgin olive oil? Avocado? Cheese?
4. Don’t skip proteins: vegan or not, protein are essential!
5. Last but not least, think about the flavor of the food you’ve just chosen: is it sweet? Savory? Sour? Bitter? Try a mix of them!

Playing with the “flavor star” allows you to create a balanced dish. Think about it: every flavor counteracts the other.
In this salad:

• The arugula is bitter,
• The feta is salty,
• Strawberries are sweet,
• The vinaigrette is sour.

Perfection!

P.S. since I don’t know how ripe your strawberries will be, or how sour the vinegar you’re using is, my advice is: take my recipe as a reference and then adjust it.

Why should I make this salad, Roberta?

Ok, ok, you’re right: you need some valid reasons to eat a salad.
Actually, I don’t know why there’s all these preconceptions about salads. Poor them!

If you combine the right flavors together, salads can actually be a super interesting dish! So…

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