Young swiss-chard and mint salad with cherries, olives and feta

Fresh and beautiful

Published originally on my blog on 10 July 2014

When the days and evenings are so hot like they’ve been lately, I can’t even contemplate stepping foot inside my kitchen for more than a few minutes. Summery salads come to my rescue.
Most of the times it’s a big Horiatiki (Greek) salad with juicy tomatoes and cooling cucumbers, other times and especially when I’ve made barley rusks, it’s dakos, the traditional Greek salad of rusks, grated tomatoes and feta, or a tuna salad, one of my favorites.

Salads incorporating fruits are the best during this season, combining sweetness with tartness, saltiness, brininess, freshness, crispness and overall deliciousness.

This time it was a simple salad of young and tender Swiss-chard leaves, fresh mint leaves with sweet dark cherries, Kalamata olives, feta, and a garlic vinaigrette with balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil.

Nothing extravagant or complicated, without any weird or exotic ingredients, a straightforward, summery, seasonal salad that was beautiful in every sense. Crisp leaves, sweet cherries, zingy vinaigrette with a garlic hit, creamy tangy feta, cooling mint. Refreshing, satisfying, and with a couple slices of rye bread and a glass of sharp Sauvignon Blanc, it made a pretty nice supper for one.

By the way, earlier today I finally couldn’t resist the cherry bounty lurking in my fridge. I turned on my oven and a sweet thing happened. I will share as soon as I can, because cherry season is so unfairly short, I don’t want to you to miss the opportunity to make it.

Young swiss-chard and mint salad with cherries, olives and feta

Use any kind of young green leaves you can get your hands on. Also purslane, watercress or baby spinach would work great instead. If you can’t find young chard leaves, use tender chard leaves that can be eaten raw, stalks and central veins removed.