PopUpMeal is a wonderful website which helps chefs share their food passions with the community.  It offers great resources to help launch a pop-up restaurant and tips on how to run your business.  The blog has many interesting articles, such as “how to handle bad restaurant service” to “farmer market scams” and a new series called New Canadian Cuisine where our Asian Inspired Poutine Recipe is featured.

Robert Courteau, the founder of PopUpMeal.com, was kind enough to send us one of his recipes to share on our blog.   Even though it is a great summer salad, there are delicious elements that can be used for any salad (… the yummy candied walnuts and herbed goat cheese).  This will spice up any boring salad.  Enjoy!

Summer Salad

This is a recipe that I first introduced as a starter special in 2008. Since then, I have included this salad every summer on my menu. Using in-season berries and herbs makes this dish just pop with flavour. It is extraordinarily easy and quick to make, and can be easily scaled up to accommodate family dinners or larger gatherings.

Dressing Ingredients

• 180mL Good Quality Canola Oil
• 1 tsp Honey
• 1 tsp Smooth Dijon Mustard
• 60mL Orange Juice

Add the honey, mustard and orange juice together in a bowl. Stir to loosen up the honey with the other ingredients. Start slowly pouring in the oil, whisking constantly to emulsify the dressing. Once the oil has all been added, season with a pinch of salt and pepper. You can increase the honey or mustard level for a more savoury or sweet taste, but ultimately you’re looking for that perfect balance, and 50/50 tends to work quite well.

Herbed Goat Cheese Ingredients

• 30g Chevre Goat Cheese
• Chives
• Tarragon
• Parsley

Take a few pieces of each of the three herbs, they should be about equal to one another, but no need to get scientific about it. Chop them all up, and mix the herbs into the chevre goat cheese. The herbs you use does have an impact. Avoid cilantro, and other strong herbs. However, oregano can replace tarragon. Do not use fried herbs for this. If you only want to use one herb, by all means go ahead. It’s best with the three, but if you must choose one, go with the unique flavour of tarragon.

Candied Walnuts Ingredients

• Handful of Walnuts, full pieces if possible.
• Good Drizzle of Maple Syrup

Preheat oven to 205C. In a bowl, drizzle the maple syrup on top of your walnut pieces. Give it a good mix to ensure the nuts are thoroughly covered by the syrup. Place on top of a silicon mat (heavily preferred for candy-making), or greased parchment paper. Place in oven for about 10 minutes. Once removed, if using parchment paper, remove the nuts before the syrup hardens to the paper, keep spread out where ever they cool. Maple syrup is not mandatory for this step, but it is my preferred sweetener. Any simple syrup or honey can be used for this step.

Salad Ingredients

• Two Handfuls of Spring Mix Lettuce
• Small Handful of Strawberries, sliced
• Small Handful of Blueberries
• Small Handful of Raspberries
• Chicken Breast (sliced horizontally to make 2 thinner breasts, use 1)
• Balsamic Reduction

The chicken breast is best cooked on the grill or in a pan. However, if you’d like to optimize your utility bills, feel free to place the chicken breast into the hot oven and bake for 10minutes or until cooked. Once cooked, we’re ready to plate. Place your lettuce on the plate, covering 2/3 of the plate, and top with a full handful of mixed berries. Crumbled some herbed goat cheese on top, and the candied walnuts. On the remainder of the plate, give a drizzle of the balsamic reduction and place the sliced chicken. Drizzle the salad and chicken breast with the dressing, and serve.

If you love food, then you should check us out at PopUpMeal.com where we encourage everyone to open up their own restaurant, a pop-up restaurant. Find out more at PopUpMeal.com.

For more recipes from Eatitnoworeatitlater check out  https://eatitnoworeatitlater.com/recipe-list/