As you’ll hear me say over and over, no two salads are quite alike. I’m usually a fruit / nut salad girl, as opposed to veggies.

This salad:

Ingredients

mixed greens
avocado
pine nuts
figs
goat cheese
herbs de provence

dressing

Yield: salad dressing for four.

2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dijon mustard
pinch of salt (optional)
squeeze of lemon juice (optional)

I like to soak my lettuce before I spin it dry. Though if you bought prewashed lettuce, you’re probably fine skipping this step.

Easiest way to dice an avocado is to slice it in half, then hammer out the pit with a big knife. If you’re afraid of missing, you probably won’t get the blade of the knife deeply into the pit enough to twist it out successfully.

pro tip

Avocado pits keep the avocado from oxidizing, the same way lemon juice does, so if you’re making guacamole, put the pit in the bowl as garnish, and it will keep it fresh! Same goes for if you’re not using the whole avocado. Use the pitless half, and leave the other half with the pit in it when you store it in the fridge

Dice the avocado in the skin, then scoop it out with a spoon. Combine the lettuce, avocado, pine nuts, and herbs de provence in a bowl. Leave the goat cheese and figs out for later.

The dressing is easy. I’ve described it before. I usually like to use half white balsamic vinegar, and half dark, but right now I only have dark balsamic in the house. Combine the vinegar and the mustard first. Once it’s fully emulsified, add the olive oil. Sometimes I just eyeball this instead of measuring. Depending on your personal preferences and the strengths of the flavors of your oil and vinegar, you can vary the proportions. I usually like to add a pinch of kosher salt and a squeeze of lemon if I have one. It balances out the bite of the vinegar whilst still retaining that tanginess you want in a dressing.

Lightly dress the salad and store the remaining dressing in a glass container. (doesn’t matter if you keep it cold or not. It’ll store for a while)

Toss the salad and turn it out onto your serving plate (or leave it in the bowl, if that’s how you want to serve it). Top with sliced figs and crumbled goat cheese. (I like the goat cheese medallions from Trader Joes, since it’s a single serving, you don’t end up with wasted, moldy goat cheese in your refrigerator). Enjoy!