Feta, Mint and Green Leaf Salad

Feta, Mint and Green Leaf Salad
with a Honey-Walnut Vinaigrette

Serves 4

Green Leaf Salad
Sweetened vinaigrettes are a useful way of adding sweetness to a salad. Here, honey is combined with a bittersour walnut oil and lemon juice vinaigrette, which in turn underlines the bitter-sweet nature of the lettuce leaves and walnuts. The salty feta cheese helps reinstate the salad's savory nature. It tastes wonderful. The same idea can be applied to a wide variety of combinations.

1 teaspoon honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons walnut oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of cayenne pepper, optional
3 Romaine lettuce hearts
3 green onions, trimmed and finely sliced
a handful of fresh mint leaves
1 cup roughly crumbled good feta cheese
a handful of walnuts

1. Whisk together the honey, lemon juice and walnut oil. Season to taste with salt, freshly ground black pepper and cayenne pepper. Set aside.

2. Separate the lettuce leaves, discarding any tough outer leaves. Wash and spin dry, then place in a large salad bowl. Rip any particularly large leaves. Add the sliced green onions, mint leaves, feta cheese and walnuts. When ready to serve, rewhisk the vinaigrette, pour on to the salad and gently mix. Serve immediately as a refreshing starter.

Buy the Book!

from:
Taste
A New Way to Cook
by Sybil Kapoor
Photographs: David Loftus
Whitecap
208 pp., $29.95
Colour photographs throughout
Softcover with French flaps
ISBN: 1552855414
Recipe reprinted by permission.