Ingredient of the month: walnuts

The April ingredient of the month – as voted by all of you – is walnuts. Walnuts are one of those fantastic rare foods that is both good and good for you! We’re going to do a lot of really fun things this month starting with this Strawberry, walnut and goat cheese salad as inspired by this post by How Sweet Eats (thanks to Foodnewsjournal for picking it up!).

This salad reminds me of the weather – kind of teasing you with a taste of spring and summer!

You’ll need:

• 2 cups raw baby spinach
• 10 normal (not giant!) size strawberries
• 1/4 cup creamy crumbly goat cheese
• 1/3 cup walnuts
• 1/8 cup bacon or pancetta lardons (yes, you cook the walnuts with them and yes, it is delicious)
• 2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp honey

1. Cut the strawberries into rounds, halves or slices – I like to have a couple different shapes in there. Set aside and macerate in balsamic vinegar for about 5 minutes.

2. Put the lardons in a small pan or saucepan and heat up to medium heat on the stove. Stir occasionally and let the fat render. Add the walnuts, stir to coat with bacon fat, and lower heat slightly. Stir or toss often until the nuts are toasted. When they are almost done, add in the honey and stir to coat, once again.

3. When the walnuts are ready, assemble the salad – layer spinach, goat cheese and strawberries with the warm walnuts on top. Dress with the balsamic vinegar from the strawberries.

Next up: chicken with walnuts and peaches (I think!)

In the meantime, check out these earlier s&h recipes featuring walnuts: Zucchini bread cookies and Pumpkin, zucchini and chocolate chip bread.