The credit for this delicious and rather eclectic salad mix is in part due to a friend of mine who introduced me to putting apricots (which are currently in season) into a salad. Personally, I would never have thought to add apricots but let me be perhaps the first to tell you, the combination is brilliant! If apricot is not your thing, you can always replace them with blueberries, which are also a tasty seasonal salad addition. Both create a wonderful blend of tastes with goat cheese and walnuts, which will also be a key element in this dish. I chose goat cheese for the creamy quality as well as its inherent ability to (in my opinion) be great with absolutely anything. I would recommend pairing the salad with a simple or mildly-flavored dressing, so that the flavors can speak for themselves. I enjoy the standard olive oil and balsamic which I find to perfectly compliment the ingredients. The color of the greens with the bright yellowy, orange of the apricots and the gorgeous fuchsia shade of the beets make this salad as beautiful as it is tasty. In this recipe, I suggest laying down a bed of the spinach and arugula, layering in the beets, topping in the apricot and avocado and finishing with sprinkles of the basil, walnuts and goat cheese before dressing it up and devouring it!
- 2 cups of spinach
- 1 cup of arugula
- ½ cup of freshly chopped basil leaves
- ½ cup of freshly sliced apricot (or alternatively blueberries)
- ¼ cup of crumbled goat cheese
- ¼ cup of walnut halves
- ½ of a sliced avocado
- ¼ cup of steamed beets (cut into quarters and cook in boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender)
