Lemon Poppy Salad with Stracciatella Cheese
This salad is crispy, light, easy to make and just special enough due to the touches of nutty poppyseeds and creamy stracciatella. The cheese is totally up to you though, this recipe is just as good with another mild cheese like ricotta or buffalo mozzarella.
Equipment
- 1 chef's knife
- 1 small stainless steel pan
Ingredients
- 4-5 large stalks of celery
- 1 cup leafy greens of choice optional, I like arugula, red leaf lettuce, or spring mix
- 1 large green radish substitutes include red radishes, Japanese turnips, cucumber
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 large lemon for zest and juice
- 3 tablespoons good olive oil plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar plus more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 4 ounces stracciatella cheese substitutes include mozzarella, burrata, or ricotta
Instructions
- Thinly slice the celery at a sharp diagonal. Tear up the leafy greens, thinly slice the radish, chiffonade cut the basil and mint.
- In a large bowl, grate in the garlic cloves, then grate in the zest from half the lemon, about a teaspoon. Add the juice from the lemon, the olive oil, the vinegar and red pepper flakes. Whisk to combine then add in all the vegetables. Toss to coat, season with salt and pepper. Taste and add more vinegar, salt and pepper as you see fit.
- In a small pan over medium heat, toast the poppy seeds for 4-5 minutes, or until they are noticeably nutty and fragrant. Add these into the salad and toss.
- To serve, tear the stracciatella on top of the salad, creating long creamy lines of cheese. Top with more lemon zest, black pepper and olive oil. Serve with crusty bread!