Strawberry Tahini Salad
Introducing the second entry in a series I like to call “What Do I Do with All This Bread?” (The first entry was this scrumptious bread pudding).
If you’re like me, you always have some bread around. Most of it ends up in our bellies; some of it goes into the freezer; and, still, some bread does end up staling up.
Luckily for me (and for all the avid sourdough bakers out there), there are plenty of ways to use up stale bread!
One way is croutons.
So, here we have a really easy strawberry tahini salad using some stale bread. It’s slightly sweet with a burst of acidity from the strawberries and super creamy from the tahini. The croutons add the right amount of texture to make everything come together. It’s the perfect spring salad.
The salad is super simple and requires only four ingredients and takes less than thirty minutes to make, and that’s including the homemade salad dressing and croutons.
As it stands now, it is more of a side salad, but if you want to make this salad more of a main, you can add tofu or chickpeas.
Ingredients
Sourdough Bread
You’re going to use cubed up sourdough bread to make your croutons. I use a stovetop method that’s simple and requires no added oil. If you want to learn how to make sourdough bread, look at this recipe. If you want to make your own sourdough starter, check this out.
The bread is really the reason for the season, but if you want, you can omit and make a really simple strawberry salad.
Greens
I used a baby lettuce mix for this salad but use whatever greens you like! In fact, I usually use arugula for salads like this (unfortunately, the store ran out of arugula on this day).
Strawberries
We are going to add strawberries two ways: in the dressing and sliced up in the salad.
The strawberries add sweetness and tartness to balance out the creaminess of the tahini. Plus, they make the salad dressing bright pink!
Tahini
Tahini adds the creamy element to the dressing. You may be able to replace it with almond butter, but I have not tried this yet.
Lemon Juice and/or Sweetener (optional)
If your strawberries are not tart or sweet enough, you may want to add lemon juice or a liquid sweetener. This also depends on the flavor profile of your tahini. Tahini can be bitter, and the flavor profile can change not only from brand to brand but sometimes from batch to batch. After mixing the strawberry and tahini dressing, make sure to taste it to make sure it’s not too bitter.
Strawberry Tahini Salad
Ingredients
- 250 grams mixed greens
- 350 grams strawberries (divided)
- 30 grams tahini (2 tablespoons)
- 100 grams of stale sourdough bread (cubed)
- Lemon juice, liquid sweetener, and salt to taste
Instructions
- To make the croutons, heat up a pan (preferably a lightly oiled cast iron) on high heat.
- If your bread is rock-hard stale, spray them with a bit of water before placing them on the pan to help them soften up (JUST a bit, if you saturate them, they will become mush).
- When the pan is hot, place your bread cubes on the pan. After five minutes, flip them over and allow to cook for five minutes on the other side or until each side is brown and crispy.
- To make the dressing, pound 100 grams of the strawberries until it because a liquid (bits of strawberry are ok). Mix the strawberry mush with the tahini. Add salt to taste. Depending on the bitterness of the tahini and tartness of the strawberries, you may want to add lemon juice or sweetener to taste.
- Next assemble the salad. Place the greens, sliced strawberries, and croutons in a bowl and mix it together. Pour over the dressing just before serving.
