Goat Cheese Salad Lemon Olive Oil Dressing
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The BEST Salads are Simple!
I love my salads simple. A few fresh ingredients can bring a salad to life without overdoing a simple side dish. This salad is bright, healthy, satisfying, and also beautiful. You get a perfect creamy texture with the soft and mild chรจvre cheese, a tangy sweet from the olives and carrots, and a light dressing to wrap it all together. Letโs dig into what makes this salad a little extra specialโฆ
Start with Simple Ingredients for a Versatile Salad
This is salad is simple and fresh making it a delightful side to any meal all year long!
Salad
- mixed greens
- basil leaves
- Carrot ribbons (use a potato peeler to create ribbons)
- Castelvetrano Olives
- Chรจvre or goat cheese
Lemon-Garlic Salad Dressing
- olive oil
- fresh lemon juice
- garlic
- crushed kosher salt and black pepper
A Fancy Carrot?
I fancy up this simple salad by making carrot ribbons. A simple process of taking a potato peeler and making shreds on a whole carrot.
I love the taste of carrots, but sometimes they can be a mouthful to chew, am I right? I like the thinness of these carrot and prefer the texture of these thin ribbons to any other raw carrot variety. Not only to they look pretty they are easier to eat and my children love them too! Who knew?
Letโs talk Olivesโฆ
As an Italian I take my olives very seriously! There are as many raw olive varieties as tasty olive oils and they all taste equally different. One of my favorite olive varieties is Castelvetrano Olives from Southern Italy (mainly Sicily). Castelvetrano olives are Italyโs most ubiquitous snack olive. Brightย green, theyโre often referred to as dolce (sweet), and come from Castelvetrano, Sicily, from the olive variety nocerella del belice. They have a Kermit-greenย hue, meaty, buttery flesh, and a mild flavor. They are so delicious to snack on plain as the flavor is so unique and satisfying. These olives can make an olive lover out of anyone!
They also grow them in California and you can buy them now at most any American grocery store. I highly recommend buying all olives, especially this variety, with the pit in them as they are more fresh that way. The Castelvetrno is tender and crisp, almost fruit-like. An olive you must try if you havenโt already.
Next upโฆ what is Chรจvre or Goat Cheese?
Not defined by one type ofย cheese, the termย Chรจvreย includes several Frenchย cheesesย made using milk from goats.ย A majority of goat cheeses come from France, the most famous among them being Bucheron, Chabis and Crottin de Chavignol. This is a cheese that is easy to digest and is great for those with milk allergies.
Once you try a good variety of goat cheese you will be hooked. It can feature a soft, semisoft, firm, or hard texture that indicates its moisture content. They come in many sizes and shapes, such as round patties, log-shapes, drum-shaped, pyramids, round loaves, long loaves etc. Chevres are excellent dessert cheeses, often served as snacks or before dinner drinks. I like the soft or semisoft variety best! Any kind of goat cheese variety will do for this recipe.
Light and Fresh Salad Dressing
My worst nightmare is thick and gooey salad dressing. A dressing is supposed to lightly coat the greens and not drown them into a mushy oblivion! With any of my salad dressing recipes, just like this zesty Italian dressing, you will find fresh ingredients, usually with an olive oil base, that mix together in a glass jar. Easy peasy and so DELISH!
Try pairing this with baked corned beef and cabbage this Easter!
More Salad Recipes
Looking for more fresh salad recipes? Try these:
Carrot, Chรจvre, Basil, and Olive Salad with Lemon Olive Oil Dressing
Ingredientsย
Salad
- 8 ounces package of your favorite mixed greens
- 5 basil leaves, torn by hand
- 1 cup carrots, about 1-2 whole, peeled into ribbons (use a potato peeler to create ribbons)
- ยฝ cup Castelvetrano Olives, about 4 oz
- 4 ounces Chรจvre cheese variety of your choice, crumbled with hands
Lemon-Garlic Salad Dressing
- โ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 small crushed clove garlic
- crushed kosher salt and black pepper
Instructionsย
Saladย
- In a large salad bowl or plater add the mixed salad and the basil. Mix until evenly distributed. Add the rest of the ingredients on top of the salad. Do not toss.
- Add all of the prepared dressing on evenly on top of the salad 10 minute before serving. Do not toss or all the ingredients will fall to the bottom. The dressing will eventually coat the bottom of the salad as it sinks. The salad will toss naturally as it is served.
Lemon-Garlic Salad Dressing
- In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, garlic, and ยผ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Store the dressing for up to a week in a glass container or mason jar in the refrigerator.
- ย
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This simple salad is one to make time and time again!