This honey goat cheese strawberry spinach salad with champagne vinaigrette is a simple and delicious salad that’s quick to put together, but has flavors that will definitely impress!
I’m sure if you were to look back on all SMTY’s Friday’s posts, they probably all start with: It’s Friday! I’m so happy. Blah. Blah. Blah. Mexican Night. Blah. Blah. Blah. Margaritas. Blah. Blah. Blah…just in case you’re not doing that, let me just tell you again.
It’s Friday! I’m so happy….etc. I don’t think Trevor and I have anything too exciting planned for this weekend, I mean, other than eating massive amounts of this honey goat cheese strawberry spinach salad, which to me, is pretty darn exciting.
At first, this salad was just going to use plain goat cheese, but then I had the thought *hmm honey sounds good in this, I bet I can probably find a honey goat cheese log at the store*. Well, guess what? They had honey goat cheese at the store. Winning! Thank you to whoever decided to put honey and goat cheese together. You’re kinda a big deal at the Debth household.
I was inspired to make this salad from a restaurant called Purple Cafe and Wine Bar in Seattle. Trevor and I decided to go out for a romantic dinner the day before Valentine’s Day. We chose to go the day before, not by choice, but because we couldn’t get a darn reservation on the actual day! We thought we were being smart by calling to make a reservation TWO weeks in advance, but alas, they were completely booked.
In the end, it didn’t matter at all! We started the night by having a margarita, shooooocker, at Dahlia Lounge, and then walked over to Purple where we had the most wonderful experience! The ambiance alone was incredible. You walk in and immediately see a huge bookcase filled with wine surrounded by a gorgeous concrete bar – you can even wine and dine inside the bookcase for the low, low price of $200 per person! 😉 Then you look around and see massive floor to ceiling windows, beautifully lit tables, and really amazing looking food.
We were seated immediately, and started out with this incredible appetizer (another recipe that I’ll have to recreate!) and ended with a lobster mac and cheese (ahem, I think I need to recreate this one, too). The second course though? Holy cow.
It was a simple spinach salad with apples, walnuts, goat cheese and tossed with a champagne vinaigrette and It. Was. Goooood. Sometimes the key to a really great recipe is to just keep it simple! (I swear I didn’t mean to give this restaurant a review. I should probably just copy and paste this into Yelp now 😉 ) This salad was so good, in fact, that I had to create it at home ASAP…ummmm, almost three weeks later.
I started with a base of spinach and added in chopped apples, sliced strawberries, and walnut pieces. The addition of the strawberries was my little twist…they were practically begging me to pick them up at the grocery store. I mean, do you see how red and juicy they look? #nofilter 😉
Next, I put in some of that delicious honey goat cheese. Then I whipped together a quick champagne vinaigrette, which…can I tell you something? I’d never made a champagne vinaigrette before, so I thought you used real champagne.
Ummmm. No.
You use champagne vinegar and whisk it together with olive oil, garlic, dijon mustard, salt, and a pinch of black pepper!
Toss the salad in the dressing and you’ve just made yourself a 5 star restaurant style honey goat cheese strawberry spinach salad with a perfect champagne vinaigrette! 🙂
Simple. Classic. Delicious.
Enjoy!
– Jennifer
What’s your favorite salad dressing (store bought or homemade)? Show me the Yummy!
PS – I’m totally obsessed with the bowls in these photos…they’re actually noodle bowls, but Trevor got these for me from Sur La Table for my birthday and I couldn’t wait to use them!
Honey Goat Cheese Strawberry Spinach Salad
Ingredients
Champagne Vinaigrette
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup champagne vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon salt
- black pepper to taste
Salad
- 1 (10 oz) bag baby spinach
- 1 large apple chopped
- 1 pint strawberries sliced
- ½ cup walnuts
- 1 (4 oz) log honey goat cheese
Instructions
Champagne Vinaigrette
- Place olive oil, champagne vinegar, garlic, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper into a bowl and whisk until well combined.
Assembling the salad
- Place spinach into a large bowl, then add in chopped apples, sliced strawberries, walnut pieces, and goat cheese. Top with desired amount of dressing.
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Notes
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Nutrition Information
*Note: Nutrition information is estimated and varies based on products used.
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