Cucumber Strawberry Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette

This simple Cucumber Strawberry Salad recipe is the perfect start to a Spring or Summer meal. Crisp spirals of shaved cucumber are served alongside sweet strawberries on a bed of tangy, whipped goat cheese. The salad is topped with crunchy toasted almond slices, fresh mint leaves and a generous drizzle of homemade Strawberry Vinaigrette. This appetizer is light, fresh, delicious and so beautiful! Pour the rosé and enjoy!

Cutecumber Salad

Isn’t this Cucumber Strawberry Salad so pretty? Those bright colors and little spirals of cucumber make this simple recipe perfect for entertaining! When having a dinner party, we assemble individual composed plates of this salad shortly before our guests arrive. When ready to serve, we pull these beauties out of the refrigerator and serve alongside our homemade Strawberry Vinaigrette. It’s quite easy but the presentation and melody of flavors make this dish so memorable!

For this recipe, start by peeling thin ribbons of cucumber (more on that below). After draining some of the moisture from the cucumbers (more on that below, too), roll up each little slice into a bite-sized spiral. Then, place each spiral of cucumber and your prepared strawberries into a generous swoosh of whipped goat cheese. The goat cheese will help the cucumber roll-ups to stand up and ensure that each bite has a creamy, tangy finish. Next, give the dish a little crunch with some toasted almonds. (Pine nuts, pistachios, or sunflower seeds work well, too!). Finally, finish the dish with a few fresh mint leaves and homemade Strawberry Vinaigrette. The dressing is made with strawberry jelly and comes together in two minutes! We like to use it on all sorts of Summer salads – but this one is a perfect pairing!

How To Slice Cucumber Ribbons

The key to this Cucumber Strawberry Salad’s pretty presentation is thinly sliced cucumber ribbons. The process is quite easy. We found this great YouTube video demonstration that we recommend watching if you need a visual. Here’s the step-by-step instructions:

1. Start by cutting off and discarding either end of the cucumber.
2. Then, using a standard vegetable peeler, peel one strip off of the cucumber. The first strip will be mainly cucumber skin. Go ahead and discard that first piece.
3. Continue peeling ribbons of the cucumber (from the same starting point) from end to end. When you are nearing the center on the cucumber, flip it over and repeat Steps 2 & 3 until you have as many ribbons as possible.
   
   Important Note: We recommend using English cucumbers (the long, skinny ones that are often wrapped in plastic at the grocery store) for this recipe. English cucumbers have much smaller seeds that can be eaten and enjoyed. English cucumber ribbons can include the seeds without worry. If you are using a common slicing cucumber, be sure to cut ribbons that avoid the large seeds. (Those larger cucumber seeds are quite bitter and contain lots of extra water content). When peeling ribbons from a regular slicing cucumber, rotate the vegetable to peel ribbons from 4 sides while leaving the seeded core in the center.

How To Prevent Cucumber Salad from Becoming Too Watery

Since cucumbers are ninety percent water, cucumber salads can quickly turn to soggy soup (yuck!) if not properly treated. For this salad we recommend taking these preventative measures to drain as much excess water out of the cucumbers as possible. Here’s the method we use to keep this Cucumber Strawberry Salad crisp and dry:

1. While slicing cucumbers into ribbons, transfer slices into a colander.
2. With every layer of cucumber ribbons into the colander, add a sprinkle of salt. The salt will help draw out excess moisture. Don’t be too concerned about over seasoning, the salt will be rinsed off in a later step.
3. Allow the salted cucumber ribbons to drain in the colander for 5 minutes. Rinse the salt off of the cucumbers with very cold water.
4. Let the rinsed cucumber ribbons drain in the colander for 5 – 10 minutes. Then, gently press on the ribbons to help expel additional moisture. Be careful not to break the ribbons when pressing, they will be a bit fragile.
5. When preparing the salad, gently blot each cucumber ribbon dry with a clean paper or kitchen towel before rolling. Your cucumber spirals should be dry, crisp and delicious!

How To Style This Salad

This salad shines brightest when it is composed on the plate. (As opposed to a traditional tossed salad.) The styling does take a few extra minutes but the results are stunning and we think it is SO worth it. It also makes those ribbons into the perfect fork-friendly, bite-sized pieces.

Cucumber ribbons are pretty and elegant all on their own, so have fun styling this Cucumber Strawberry Salad with your own flare. (And be sure to tag us on Instagram, so we can feature your glorious work!). To style the dish as photographed, follow these easy steps:

1. Firstly, we recommend starting with chilled plates. (Just refrigerate your salad plates for 15 – 20 minutes while you are preparing the components.) If possible we suggest plating these salads for each individual guest. Alternatively, you can present this salad on a larger serving platter, but, be aware, it can be difficult to serve this way.
2. Place a generous dollop of whipped goat cheese on the center of each plate (or platter). With the back of a spoon, or small offset spatula, swoosh the goat cheese into a bed nearing the perimeter of the plate. Be careful not to spread the whipped goat cheese too thin, you will need the cheese to hold the cucumber and strawberries in place.
3. Then, working with one cucumber ribbon at a time, tightly roll the cucumber ribbons into tight spirals. Place each spiral, standing up, in the whipped goat cheese. Also, place the strawberries intermittently among the cucumber spirals.
4. Next, tuck a few mint leaves in between some of the cucumber spirals on each plate.
5. At this stage, you can refrigerate the salad(s) for a short amount of time, until you are ready to serve to your guests. Once ready to serve, sprinkle the toasted almonds around the plate.
6. Finally, either drizzle the salads with Strawberry Vinaigrette or serve the vinaigrette alongside, to be dressed at the table. Viola!

Share Your Success!

We can’t wait for you to try our Cucumber Strawberry Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette! This recipe is a lovely way to kick off a simple dinner party Or elegant family dinner. We and our guests always love this salad and we know your will too! When this recipe makes its way to your table be sure to drop us a comment below! And, as always, tag @foodworthfeed in your Instagram posts and stories. We love having a seat at your table, you’ll always have one at ours!

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Make it a Meal!

Check out these other recipes to serve alongside this Cucumber Strawberry Salad!

• Green Pea Pasta with Burrata
• Whipped Ricotta & Grilled Asparagus Toast
• 30 Minute Chicken Marsala Meatballs
• Lemon Blondies with White Chocolate Ganache