July 21, 2015 By Sara 45 Comments

Blackberry Salad

Name: Blackberry Salad
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 4 cups mixed salad greens; 1/2 cup mixed soft herbs (parsley, mint, dill, cilantro, basil); 1 cup blackberries; 2 apricots (pitted and sliced); 2 ears of cooked corn (kernels sliced off the cobs); 3 small or 2 large roasted yellow beets (roasting directions here); 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese; 1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds; For the dressing:; 1 large or 2 small ripe apricots (pitted); 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar; 1 tablespoons honey; kosher salt and pepper to taste; 2 teaspoons poppy seeds

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This blackberry salad is full of fresh berries, apricots, corn, feta cheese and almonds, all drizzled with a creamy apricot dressing. A great way to showcase summer produce!

In my opinion, this is the ultimate summer salad. You’ve got sweetness from the fruit, the crunch of the nuts, the creamy cheese and that dressing is just off the charts delicious!

Raise your hand if you love the farmer’s market! While I love to shop at the farmer’s market, I don’t go as often as I’d like. Our town’s market is on a Saturday morning and we tend to not want to rush out of the house first thing on the weekend. So when I do go, I buy up everything in sight that looks good and try and come up with fun ways to showcase the produce. This blackberry salad is the product of my last trip to the farmer’s market. It’s full of great summer fruit and vegetables but let’s be real, the creamy apricot poppy seed dressing is really the star of the show here.

Most of the time I follow whatever meal plan I’ve come up with for the week but sometimes I like to cook on the fly. This time, I randomly picked up a bunch of produce without an exact plan in place.

After some consideration (and internet research!) I decided to make a salad. But not just any old salad. A blackberry-corn-apricot-beet salad with fresh herbs, feta and almonds.

How do you make blackberry salad?

So let’s talk about the salad base first. I used little gem lettuce, other great options would be spring mix, romaine or butter lettuce. I also added a handful of fresh herbs to the mix – I love putting herbs in my salad, it adds something a little unexpected. My favorite additions are mint, basil, parsley, cilantro and/or dill.

Once you’ve got your lettuce squared away it’s time for the add-ins. I went with sliced apricots, grilled corn, roasted yellow beets. blackberries, feta and sliced almonds. There is such a great interplay of flavors and textures here – the fruit adds sweetness which is counter balanced by the salty feta and the grilled corn adds a smoky note.

I made an apricot poppy seed dressing to go with this salad. Fresh ripe apricots, olive oil, vinegar and honey are whizzed together in the food processor to make a thick and creamy dressing that doesn’t actually contain any cream or mayonnaise.

This blackberry apricot salad is perfect for a picnic or potluck and you could easily add some grilled chicken to make it a hearty main course.

We’re going to be eating this salad all summer long. What is your favorite thing to buy at the farmer’s market?

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This blackberry apricot salad uses summer's finest produce and the creamy apricot poppyseed dressing is to die for!

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