Temperatures outside are hitting the 90s and the idea of heating up our oven or cooking over a hot stove does not sound appealing at all. When I ran across beautiful spring greens peppered with pansy flowers at the local farmer’s market I knew a delicious salad would be in my future. I paired the greens and edible flowers with Oregon blackberries, honey goat cheese, honey baked walnuts and blackberry vinaigrette. The blackberry and edible flower salad was the perfect accompaniment to a baked salmon.

This post is in partnership with Oregon Berries. All opinions are my own. About Oregon Berries: The Oregon Raspberry & Blackberry Commission focuses on promoting caneberries to multiple audiences, and supports Oregon berry farmers by fostering plant research and farming education initiatives. Find Oregon Berry brands on the Oregon Berries website! 

Isn’t it beautiful? There is just something about beautiful food that makes it just that much more delicious. This salad was probably the best salad I’ve ever made. Even my kids ate it well. I sourced much of my ingredients from the local farmer’s market, but you can certainly find similar ingredients in your supermarket. Not all supermarkets carry edible flowers or microgreens, but I’ve been lucky to find them in natural food stores and specialty markets. Below I share a little bit about the ingredients that I chose to use and possible substitutions, followed by the recipe.

Greens: I used farmer’s market greens and pea shoot micro greens. You can use your favorite spring greens to recreate this salad, though, I’d stay away from too many bitter leaves such as arugula. This salad needs the sweetness that arugula (a favorite green of mine) just doesn’t have.  the pea shoot micro greens give a sweet pea-flavor to the salad. It can certainly be made without, but we thought it was a nice touch in the flavor profile.

Edible Flowers: I chose pansies for this salad because they are not strong in flavor, but look so pretty! Pansies flavor is super mild, slightly sweet, and almost mint-like. Many other edible flowers could also work in this salad such as borage blossoms or violets.

Blackberries: As I am working with Oregon Berries, I chose fresh Oregon blackberries for this salad. I used frozen Oregon Blackberries to create the vinaigrette. You can find Oregon blackberries at many grocery stores throughout the berry season. Thankfully, you can often find them in the freezer section! I often find berries from Stahlbush Island Farms. Find other Oregon Berry brands on the Oregon Berries website.

Honey Goat Cheese: My favorite honey goat cheese is found at Trader Joes. Don’t have one nearby? Just mix goat cheese and honey together for a similar flavor.

Honey Walnuts: You can absolutely substitute a candied walnut here, but I liked the more subtle flavor of honey walnuts and they are super simple to make. I cover raw walnuts in honey and put them on a parchment sheet covered baking pan. I then roast in the oven at 350 for about 5 minutes. Do watch the walnuts as they can burn fairly quickly.

Blackberry Vinaigrette: You can substitute a raspberry vinaigrette from the store, but it is super easy to make your own vinaigrette and the blackberry flavor that this one imparts really makes for a delicious dressing!

The following blackberry and edible salad measurements are optional. You can build this salad to your taste and to your ingredient set. That is the best part about salads, in my opinion, you can really get such inspiration from recipes, but then create something that is truly unique to your tastes.

Blackberry and Edible Flower Salad with Honey Goat Cheese

Makes 1 large salad which could be enough for two dinner sized portions or four side-sized portions

Ingredients: 

• 7 cups of spring greens
• 1 cup of pea shoot micro greens
• 12-18 pansy flowers
• 1/4 cup of honey goat cheese pulled into small chunks
• 1/2 cup of honey walnuts
• 1 pint of fresh Oregon blackberries, rinsed
• Blackberry Vinaigrette (keep scrolling for recipe)

Directions: 

1. Rinse all greens and dry well. Be careful not to bruise the greens in the rinsing/drying process. I tend to use a salad spinner with a paper towel in it to spin off the water after rinsing.
2. Toss the spring greens and micro greens together in your serving bowl.
3. Disperse the honey walnuts, blackberries, and honey goat cheese throughout the salad.
4. Top with pansy flowers.
5. You can pre-dress the salad, but I prefer to serve the dressing on the side and allow everyone to dress their own portion. The dressing will weigh down the pansy flowers if you pre-dress and some people prefer less dressing while others prefer more.

Blackberry Vinaigrette

This recipe makes 8 oz of dressing. You’ll need a small saucepan and fine mesh sieve to create this dressing.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup of Blackberries (frozen works best)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/8 cup of water
• 1 Tablespoon of honey
• freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
• Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1. Put the blackberries, water, and sugar into a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat on a stovetop. Stir occasionally. Cook approximately 10 minutes, or when the blackberries have been cooked down.
2. Strain the blackberry mixture through a fine-mesh sieve saving the liquid.
3. Mix 1/4 cup of the blackberry syrup, with the juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 cup of olive oil, tablespoon of honey, and 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. Shake the mixture well. Add salt and pepper to taste, shaking well in between additions of seasoning.