Salad with toasted sunflower seeds, avocado, and Cotswold Double Gloucester cheese
Sunflower seeds on salads used to be a thing back in the seventies. They are easy to overlook with all the other choices out there like walnuts, pine nuts, pepitas, or hazelnuts. But they’re still good! And healthy, and inexpensive; I should use them more often.
A few weeks ago at the grocery outlet I bought some Clawson Cotswold Double Gloucester Cheese with Chives and Onions. The owners of the outlet told me they’d already gone through several chunks of it themselves, and indeed I loved it. It’s very creamy and has a strong chive/onion flavor. Not long after that I was happy to see that Trader Joe’s also has Cotswold Double Gloucester and I picked up another chunk. The only sad thing: my husband doesn’t like it! So it won’t be a regular in our salads, I guess.
The first time I made this salad I included chickpeas for their flavor and the extra protein as I often do. But when I made the salad again and photographed it I forgot the chickpeas, darn! But try it that way if you like. Between the chickpeas, cheese, avocado and sunflower seeds, this is a filling and flavorful salad. I dressed it very simply with just a little olive oil and vinegar. Enjoy!
- 1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
- 1½ Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- several grinds of black pepper
- salt or salt flakes to taste
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds, toasted
- 2 oz. Cotswold Double Gloucester cheese, cut into small cubes
- 1 avocado, halved, pitted, sliced, cut into small pieces
- 6 oz. salad greens, washed and torn into small pieces, or baby salad greens
- (1/3 cup chickpeas, optional, not illustrated)
- Dry-toast sunflower seeds in a pan over medium heat for about three minutes, stirring constantly, until they are starting to crackle and brown.
- Cut cheese into small cubes.
- Wash, spin, and tear salad greens.
- Put salad greens in a large bowl.
- Add dressing ingredients to salad greens, toss.
- Serve onto dinner plates.
- Sprinkle sunflower seeds on salad, then arrange cheese cubes, avocado pieces, and chickpeas, if using, on top.
- Makes two large or three medium sized salads.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
What a fantastic salad!
yummychunklet recently posted..ffwD: moules marinière
Thanks!
Hmm, I wonder if I’d be able to recreate that same sort of onion/chive flavor in a cashew-based cheese… The whole combination within the salad sounds so good, I’ve got to at least give it a try! Chickpeas sound like the perfect way to round out the mix with a bit of protein, turning it into something potentially main dish-worthy, too.
Hannah recently posted..Photo Friday: Sweeping Landscapes
To make it vegan I would probably just skip the cheese and put snipped chives and sliced red onions into the salad. Or maybe a dressing with sweet onions and chives in it. And maybe add pine nuts. I can’t have cashews so I miss out on all the cool vegan cheeses and desserts that are made with it. As you know I do have my own pine nut/macadamia ‘cheese’ but it’s too soft to cube.
Not a fan of cheese, but everything else in this salad looks so refreshing. Especially avocados 🙂
Kiran recently posted..Sweet & Sour Shrimp
Yup, we love avocados in salad! Makes it nice and filling, too.
I love sunflower seeds on salads. Problem is when I buy them my husband eats them before I can use them. 😀 This salad sounds lovely. I’ve never had Double Gloucester cheese, but this recipe is a good reason to try it. Thanks
Cindy recently posted..Easy Red Tomato Salsa
Ha ha, I have the same problem with pistachios around here. I find that putting them in the freezer works!