Mediterranean and Filipino cuisine meet in a fresh and easy summer salad. Experience the taste explosion that is Tuyo herring, adding an exciting whiff of the ocean to the dish.
June is usually the month when I would leave my oven to rest until September. Salads become a major part of our summer diet with lots of water or ice cold drinks. Fresh, light plates with seasonal vegetables are easier to digest and much better this hot season. And I guess like you, we are all in constant search for a delicious salad mixture to keep the flavors diverse for the whole hot season.
This taste explosion is a product of my approach in putting something Filipino in a Mediterranean salad. Dried herring, locally called tuyo, is something very typical in the Philippines and it’s flavor is quite bombastic. In fact, it is always dipped in vinegar and eaten with white rice to curb its intensity. In this salad, I tore them to small pieces then mixed them with the salad to distribute the flavor and just to give the whole dish the right amount of saltiness. Paired with the mild flavor of feta cheese, the whole composition was delectable.
If you can’t find Tuyo (available online), you can experiment with either smoked sprats from Latvia, or pan fried anchovies to add that awesome whiff of the ocean.
Print
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 8 fresh zucchini flowers
- Handful of baby lettuce (or any salad of your choice)
- 8 – 10 cherry tomatoes (halved)
- 40 grams feta cheese (crumbled)
- 4 fillets or about 3 tablespoons of pre-cooked preserved dried herring (can be replaced with other kinds of salted dried fish adjusting the amount according to the taste, torn to small pieces)
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Balsamic vinegar
- Salt (optional)
Instructions
- Take away the pistils and calyx of the flowers then rinse them under the running water and dry carefully.
- In a salad bowl, all the ingredients together, being careful not to destroy the flowers.
- Serve fresh.
- Category: Salad, Side
