Probably The Best Summer Salad Recipe Ever

I'm a rather competitive little soul, and so when I was asked if I'd like to create a dish using Apetina Cheese which others could vote on I said yes. Then as I read more I realised that what I was planning on making (Cheese and Bacon Twists) wasn't actually suitable as Apetina wanted me to make a snazzy showpiece salad. There was also another little problem, by the time I realised that it was a Salad that I was to make I had less than 24 hours to come up with an idea and make it. Luckily I'm a genius and so I came up with what is probably the best Summer Salad ever and if you pop along to the Apetina cheese Facebook Page you can vote for my salad (because it's your favourite of course) and you will be entered into a prize draw for a picnic hamper (There's a basket, salad bowl, servers and a dressing bowl) and in the final week a BBQ. If you win you could make my salad and take it on a picnic with you, after all it's really tasty... and your favourite salad.

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• I regularly make salads and eat them over the course of the week and I like them to be simple, and this Salad is just that. Even the bits to make it look pretty are easy to make, and I think that with it all put together they make a rather special looking salad that wouldn't be out of place as the centre piece at a dinner party or Summer BBQ. 
  
  
  So here is how I did it;
• Get two bags of Salad from the Supermarket. It doesn't matter what two bags you get as long as they are full of Salad leaves that you (or your guests or family would like). Also buy Cherry tomatoes, Celery, Spring Onions, Peppers and a Cucumber. If you want to add anything else to your salad also buy this now. I like to add sliced mushrooms, red onion, raisins, almond flakes and grated carrot to my salads but I didn't to this one as I didn't want it to be over powered. Don't forget to buy the Apetina Cheese either, they sell it in blocks and in precut squares (and there is a light version and one with olives and one with sundried tomatoes, so something for everyone).
  
  
  

  

  
  
  Go home.
• Run to your neighbours house and ask to borrow a salad bowl because you realised you don't actually have one, as you normally use your cake box and it's full of pineapple decorated cakes. Return home with salad bowl after promising to return it once salad has been eaten. Think should have invited neighbour to lunch to enjoy said salad but carry on home anyway.

Start with the Peppers first. Cut the top and bottom off and then slice in half. Using one half of the pepper cut the flesh from the skin and then very finely chop the skin into strips. Put these strips into cold water whilst you do the same thing to a different colour pepper and add the skin strips into the cold water. Put this in your fridge whilst you finely chop the flesh of the pepper into thin strips too. Empty the two bags of salad and the Pepper flesh strips into the salad bowl, put back in the fridge.

Get the Spring onions and give them a rinse before chopping off the ends. I used five spring onions, but it's up to you how much you use depending on your personal taste. Cut two of the spring onions finely (white and green parts) and put in the bowl of salad and pepper flesh in the fridge. Take the other spring onions and cut off the green parts. Finely chop the white parts and put in the salad bowl with the others. Take some of the green parts and cut in half (varied lengths is pretty) and then with a paring knife gently cut roughly two thirds of the way down the green stem on one side. Make two more cuts of the same length around the green part and put the stem into a bowl of cold water. Repeat with the other parts of the stem. Put the bowl of cold water and green spring onion stems in the fridge.

Wash the Celery before chopping the end off and placing to one side. Take a couple of Celery sticks and remove the stringy bits before cutting and throwing into the salad bowl. Again use more or less here depending on your own preference. Take the celery end and then cut each stem at an angle to make the end look like a flower. Leave the Celery to soak in some cold water to make it more flexible so you can pull the "flower" apart slightly to make it look prettier in a few minutes.

Try to make Cucumber swirls but fail and in a bit of a temper roughly chop the cucumber up into small pieces, put this in the salad too.

Take a hand full of cherry tomatoes, wash them and slice them in half. Put them in the salad bowl too and then toss everything together to mix it up and generally make it look pretty. Put it back in the fridge. Take a few Cherry tomatoes and gently slice through 2/3rds of the way at the very bottom before guiding the knife down and round in a circle. Follow the line all the way down and round the tomato and you will have a curly skin. Starting at the small end of the skin gently roll the tomato back on itself to form a flower.

Gently toss in some of the Apetina cheese squares into the salad and then place the celery flower in the middle of the salad. Add the cherry tomato flowers that you deemed pretty enough and some pineapple flowers that you had made for cakes and had left over. Scatter over the top the chopped pepper skin which has turned curly in the cold water and then take several pictures before serving!

• There are lots of other recipes on the Apetina website, so if you fancy using some of the cheese this week you can get plenty of inspiration there too and don't forget to go and vote on the Apetina Facebook page for my salad! 
• This is a Sponsored Post but it doesn't stop my salad looking delicious!

Viral video by ebuzzing