salad of poached cherries and feta

cherry and feta salad

I may be feeling grumpy at lack of home computer but a tangy feta and sweet cherry salad are a marriage made in food heaven and enough to soothe even the grumpiest brow. 

It is worth bearing in mind that English cherry orchards are in a parlous state; we have lost 90% of our traditional orchards over the past 50 years and the UK now imports 95% of cherries into the country. Yikes! Support the Cherry Aid campaign at FoodLovers Britain or on Facebook. As part of the campaign, you can plant, rent or even adopt a cherry tree to show how much you love them.

Serves 4
Skill level: Easy
 
ingredients:
poached cherries
150g fresh cherries, pitted
6 tbsp white wine or water
1 tbsp honey
dressing
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cherry syrup (reserved cherry poaching liquid)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of sugar (optional)
salad
rocket leaves or other salad leaves
mi cuit or sun dried tomatoes
2 x spring onions, chopped
100g feta cheese, crumbled
30g toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped
fresh parsley, chopped
 
directions:

1. Heat the wine or water in a small saucepan and add the honey. Stir until dissolved. Add the cherries and heat through for about 1 minute. Set aside to cool. Strain the cherries but reserve the syrupy poaching liquid.
2. Combine all the dressing ingredients (including some of the reserved cherry syrup) and whisk well to ensure that they have emulsified. Check the seasoning. While you will need to add salt and pepper, you may need a pinch or 2 of sugar to balance out the flavour.
3. Combine all the salad ingredients and toss lightly with about 1 tablespoon of the dressing.
4. Divide the dressed salad between 4 plates. Top each plate with a little of the poached cherries, feta, hazelnuts and chopped parsley.
5. Serve the remainder of the dressing on the side.

 
tips

• Replace the feta cheese with goat’s cheese.
• Add a little cooked bacon or strips of Parma ham.