This Strawberry Salad with Smoked Goat Cheese combines the freshness from seasonal fruit and richness from smoked cheese. Drizzled with a simple dressing with olive oil, honey, and lemon juice, this is a fresh and tasty salad to enjoy in summer!
Hey folks, how are you doing? I hope the heat where you live is manageable. Lucky for us, our one-week long heat wave, seems to be over. I am super happy about this!
But before we jump to the recipe, let me refer to our recent vacation to Europe.
Smoked Goat Cheese
It would be an understatement to say that the Netherlands is the paradise for all cheese lovers! During our stay, I think 60-70% of meals that Andrew and I had, consisted of local cheeses, deli meets, and bread. Plus, some simple veggie salads on side. And that’s true. Yes, we dined out a few times, as well as had some street foods, but overall we were happy with all the cheese and stroopwafels.
While we tried choosing different cheeses every time, there was the one we grabbed more than just once. It was THAT good. Yes, I am talking about smoked goat cheese. It is so pleasantly smooth, delicately smoky, and generally well-balanced. Here in Canada we have smoked cheddar and smoked gouda, and occasionally you can find smoked mozzarella. So this one was new to us. Needless to say, we brought some to Canada, too. And long time before getting back home, I had already known I would use some for a salad!
Strawberry Salad with Smoked Goat Cheese
It is not a super complex salad in terms of textures and flavours. Smoked cheese here is the star. If it is impossible to find goat cheese where you live, mozzarella would be a good substitute. Gouda would work, too. Smoked cheddar? It may, depending on its quality; some varieties have too intense flavour.
You do not need to stick to strawberries. Blackberries, raspberries, peaches, or apricots will all work as well.
And this light and fresh dressing just highlights the cheese and strawberries, without overpowering them. Nice!
More Fresh Salads to Enjoy This Summer
Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
Watermelon Salad with Pistachio Mint Pesto
I hope you like this Strawberry Salad with Smoked Goat Cheese, and you will give it a try soon. If you make it, let me know in this post or send me an Instagram message or share you photos adding the hashtag #havocinthekitchen.
Cheers!
Strawberry Salad with Smoked Goat Cheese
3-4
servings10
minutesThis Strawberry Salad with Smoked Goat Cheese combines the freshness from seasonal fruit and richness from smoked cheese. Drizzled with a simple dressing with olive oil, honey, and lemon juice, this is a fresh and tasty salad to enjoy in summer!
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Ingredients
- Strawberry Salad with Smoked Goat Cheese:
1 lb. (450 gr.) strawberries, hulled and sliced
few generous handfuls (100-120 gr.) of arugula or salad of your choice
about 100 gr. smoked goat cheese, shaved
few basil leaves, chiffonade
- Dressing:
1 tbsp. (14 ml.) olive oil
1/2 tbsp. (7 ml.) honey
1/2 tbsp. (7 ml.) lemon juice; balsamic will work, too
a bit of black pepper
Directions
- In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, honey, lemon juice (or balsamic), and pepper and whisk until mixed. Try and adjust the sweetness / sourness to your liking.
- For a salad, simply combine the strawberries with the arugula and basil leaves and toss with the dressing. Then add the cheese shavings and serve. Enjoy!
Your European cheese adventure sounds amazing, and it’s great that you brought back a new favorite to incorporate into your recipes.
This salad sounds fantastic, Ben! And I agree with you about cheese from the Netherlands – we also brought a LOT back when we went. It’s hard to find hard goat cheeses here in the States, but we’ve found a couple of stores that carry fantastic hard goat cheese – now I need to see if they have a smoked one! Or maybe I could smoke it myself?? We need to explore this idea…
Thank you David!
I agree that it is not easy to find hard goat cheeses in North America. I think smoking your own cheese sounds amazing!
Oooohhh, smoked goat cheese sounds wonderful! I’m now on the lookout for some! Such a beautiful salad Ben. And I’m with you; meats, cheese, bread and some fruit is my favorite kind of meal.
Thank you Tasia!
I honestly don’t think we will find smoked goat cheese here, but I could attempt cold smoking some goat Gouda to see how it would work. Great salad recipe, Ben!
Thank you David. I think smoked Gouda would give a great result!
Yes not sure I like goat cheese but as per what Tandy said (hehehe) I do like smoked cheese. And I love strawbs in a salad. great work Ben :)
cheers
sherry
Actually, hard goat cheese is much more delicious and not so…well goat-y than soft / unrepented cheeses like chevre. So if you never had hard goat cheese, I encourage you to give it a try :)
I’ve had some interesting smoked cheeses but as far as I know never a smoked goat cheese. One of the pleasures of traveling is discovering new foods to enjoy. Your salad photo is great.
Thanks Karen! Yes, I guess smoked goat cheese can be mostly found in some European countries.
I am not a fan of goats cheese so this is not for me. I do like smoked cheese though. I’m glad you enjoyed the cheeses in The Netherlands. They really make some amazing varieties.
Thank you Tandy!
I need to find smoked goat cheese to try. The salad looks fantastic.
Thank you Angie!
I love your photography so much. These photos are spectacular, as is this salad recipe.
Thank you Mimi!