The BEST-EVER Salad with Strawberries & Manchego Cheese

I needed a salad to go with Sunday dinner. I wanted it to be a light salad, but flavorful. I found this one while trolling around looking for Spanish recipes.

I think the only thing Spanish about this recipe is the Manchego cheese. I  happen to LOVE Manchego cheese. I should remember that. I don't eat it enough. 

I had a bit of a problem with the balsamic glaze I had. I had to dump it and then just use regular balsamic. It turned out fine. 

Oh and I had to swap out the strawberries. I know that's a major ingredient in this recipe, but the strawberries at the store just looked sad. And were super expensive. I chose blueberries instead and, you know, I think I liked it better.

The BEST-EVER Salad with Strawberries & Manchego Cheese

Recipe from Spain On a Fork

Serves 2

FOR THE SALAD:

• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 1 small red onion
• 8 fresh strawberries
• 2 ounces Manchego cheese
• 10 walnuts
• pinch sea salt
• dash black pepper

FOR THE BALSAMIC DRESSING:

• 1 tbsp glazed balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp agave syrup
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• pinch sea salt
• dash black pepper

Remove the leaves from a head of romaine lettuce and stack them up, tightly roll the leaves together like a cigar, cut it right down the middle and into 1 inch pieces, add to a strainer and rinse under cold running water, dry the lettuce either with a salad spinner or dishcloth, add the cleaned dry lettuce into a large shallow bowl

Thinly slice 1 small red onion and add over the lettuce, wash & pat dry 8 fresh strawberries and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices, add the slices of strawberry into the salad, season everything with sea salt & black pepper

Add some thin shavings of Manchego cheese over the salad (I used a potato peeler) and crumble 10 walnuts over the salad

To make the dressing, add 1 tbsp balsamic glaze into a bowl, along with 1 tbsp Dijon mustard and 1 tbsp agave syrup, lightly season with sea salt & black pepper, start whisking together and at the same time slowly add in 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, once all the olive oil is incorporated and you end up with a creamy texture the dressing is done

Using a spoon drizzle some of the dressing over the salad and serve at once, enjoy!