Mixed Green Salad with Strawberries and Balsamic Vinaigrette

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Mixed greens and strawberries drizzled with tangy-sweet homemade balsamic vinaigrette make for an ideal fresh and light summer salad.  This is a nice side dish to accompany almost any entree {chicken, beef, pork, and salmon}.

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Mixed Green Salad with Strawberries and Balsamic Vinaigrette
 Serves 4-6 as a side salad

{pic above:  baby red and green romaine/oak leaf, baby spinach, mixed micro greens, and strawberries}

Ingredients for the Salad

5 oz       mixed greens 
6-8 oz   fresh strawberries, hulled, sliced

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Ingredients for the Salad Dressing

3    tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
2    tablespoons shallot, minced
½  teaspoon garlic, minced
½  cup extra-virgin olive oil
1    teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼-½  teaspoon sugar {depending on the sweetness}
¼  teaspoon rosemary
¼  teaspoon parsley
¼  teaspoon thyme
¼  teaspoon oregano
salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

In a bowl combine all the ingredients and whisk to blend.

This recipe yields more than you need for the salad, refrigerate remaining dressing in a glass container.

Good quality balsamic vinegar should be sweet, complex, thick and syrupy in texture, rich dark brown, and aged in wooden barrels for at least 12 years.

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Divide mixed green salad and strawberries slices between individual plates and drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette.

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Serve salad with these crispy puff pastry sandwiches filled with ham and cheese – yum!  This is wonderful to have for lunch, dinner or brunch.

Instead of strawberries, you could substitute nectarines, peaches, pears, apples or other fruit in the salad.   

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print recipes:
Puff Pastry Sandwiches, click here
Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing, click here

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posted by: Kay