I don’t tend to eat fruit in my salads but this one was inspired by my daughter’s new passion for salad gardening. This summer she’s put her energy into growing edibles such as different lettuces, tomatoes, herbs – and strawberries. I’d forgotten how much more juicy and flavourful they are when they’re picked and enjoyed at their peak.
Another reason for adding ripened strawberries here, is to counteract the bitterness from the radicchio. The teens aren’t keen (I don’t LOVE it, I have to admit), but bitter leaves really do benefit digestion so I’ll include them on a regular basis. Other bitter leaves I use are watercress, dandelion and endive.
Yuzu is an interesting addition to a salad dressing. It’s a Japanese citrus fruit, rather like a cross between an orange and a lime. I’ve not actually seen it fresh, but I recently bought some bottled juice from an Asian market. You can also get it on Amazon. It’s worth getting if you like experimenting with citrus flavours.
Another worthy investment is a really good quality balsamic vinegar. When it’s aged without additives to a thickened almost-syrupy consistency, it’s a very beautiful thing – and makes those incredible strawberries really happy!
A selection of olives, together with an olive oil-based dressing adds plenty of super healthy fat into this salad to help bring down inflammation. Keeping it simple with grilled wild salmon or roast chicken would make a perfect, well-balanced meal.
AIP Summer Salad
Prep time: 20 minutes
Serves 6
Print the recipe here!
SALAD
2 large handfuls baby lettuce leaves
1 cup ripe strawberries, halved
1/2 cup mixed olives
2 tablespoons capers, washed
2 carrots, grated
2 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1/3 long English cucumber, quartered and chopped
1/2 small radicchio, thinly shredded
1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup chopped dill
DRESSING
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon yuzu juice (or lemon juice)
1 tablespoon good quality aged balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon honey
pinch Himalayan pink salt
Put all the salad ingredients into a large bowl.
To make the dressing, put all the ingredients into a small bowl and whisk together.
Pour as much of the dressing as you like into the salad and toss well.
Serve as a side, with a protein of your choice.
I was diagnosed with a rare form of discord lupus 2 years ago. I was a mess. Most doctors had no udea how to treat me and the awful drugs they used, well, worse than my symptoms.
I was so desperate to get my life back I read everything I could find. Until I found your website.
I want to thank you for changing my life. Teaching me that food can heal,that it doesn’t have to taste like cardboard or cost a ton of money.
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Stacy, you have no idea how much this comment means to me. It’s wonderful people like you who give me a reason to write my recipes and story, as well as force myself out of my comfort zone to share them. It’s stories like yours that inspire me to tell the world about this amazing protocol, and what can be achieved by following it. Sending you much love, and many healing hugs x