This salad was conceived during one of our farmers market demonstration for the L.A. Times Food Bowl Festival. We ran out of peaches for our peach soup demo and, in minutes, (because the Santa Monica Farmers Markets are a gold mine), found the perfect strawberries, crisp arugula and our favorite Santa Barbara Pistachio Company pistachios to satisfy our eager crowd.
Ingredients
1/2cupToasted pistachios
6leavesbasil
3/4cupGood extra virgin olive oil
2Lemons
2tspKosher salt
2baskets Strawberries
4cupArugula
Instructions
Finely chop your pistachios and place them in a large serving bowl. Chiffonade the basil and add it with the oil to the bowl.
Juice one of the lemons over your bowl. Cut your strawberries into quarters (smaller if the strawberries are big) and toss them in with the dressing and salt. I love waiting at least 30 minutes to allow the berries to macerate before adding the greens. Taste the dressing and adjust with more salt and lemon if needed.
Just before serving, toss the arugula in with the dressing. Enjoy!
This recipes serves 4.
Notes
One cardinal rule to remember when making a salad is tasting the dressing before adding the greens. Make sure that your dressing tastes nearly over-seasoned to make sure the lettuce doesn’t drown out its bright flavors.