Strawberry, watercress and cashew salad

I’ve been seeing a lot of great looking strawberries at the market lately. What’s even better than fresh strawberries from the market? Fresh strawberries from the backyard.

I wanted to do something with the strawberries besides eat them plain. I recently received some delicious sweet and salty cashews from Oh! Nuts, and I knew they’d be great in a salad with my berries.

I decided to go with watercress as the base for the salad. I really like watercress, but I don’t use it often enough. I tossed the watercress in a very simple dressing of minced shallot, lemon, honey and olive oil. I added lots of strawberries, the cashews and some shaved ricotta salata.

This is a great summer salad, and very easy to put together. Strawberry season has just started, and I’ll be getting berries from the yard for a few more months. I need to come up with some other ways to use them, any ideas?

Strawberry, watercress and cashew salad

Serves 3-4

2 bunches of watercress, trimmed

1 cup of strawberries, halved or quartered

1/4 cup sweet and salty cashews

1/4 cup ricotta salata, shaved

1 small shallot, minced

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 heaping teaspoon honey

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together the shallot, lemon juice, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper. Add to the watercress and toss to coat. Top with strawberries, cashews and ricotta salata.