Little Gem Spring Cherry Salad

Total Time: 20 min. Servings: 2-4

Posted by Daniel

Sweet, crisp, juicy, light... for me these are the flavors of a wonderful warm-weather meal. The sweetness of cherries in spring and early summer over crisp juicy leaves of little gem lettuce make my mouth water with delight! A light dressing ties it all together. It's nothing complicated, just a simple way to bring out all the flavors of farmer's market fresh produce.

INGREDIENTS

½ pound little gem leaves/”hearts” (or wash and prep the full heads of little gem)
¼ cup oil (I like walnut oil, but any light flavored salad oil will do.)
2 T lemon juice
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 t. fresh thyme (finely chopped)
pinch of salt (optional)
½ pound sweet red cherries
¼ cup almonds

PREPARATION

Mix the oil, lemon juice, balsamic, and thyme in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake the jar
vigorously and your dressing is ready.

To prepare the cherries, you may use a wonderful invention which takes out cherry pits and is
sold at kitchen stores. But, if you're like me and you don't have one, you can either slice the
cherries in half and pull the pit out by hand or use the nifty paper clip method: fold a paper clip
so that one “hook” is exposed and the rest can be held firmly in your fingers. Insert the “hook”
into the cherry, loop it around the pit and pull! (This works amazingly well to pull cherry pits
out.) Then, slice them in half for more bite-sized pieces.

Drizzle the dressing over the little gem and sprinkle the cherries on top. Finish with the
almonds.

Almonds can simply be sprinkled on top, but I like fresh toasted almonds: Put your almonds in
a plastic bag and crush with a hammer or heavy object. Toast them over medium heat in a pan for a couple minutes until brown (stirring often and watching to prevent burning). The scent of fresh toasted almonds will still be lingering in your kitchen as you sit down to enjoy this refreshing salad.