Zesty Summer Salad

Summer is almost upon us, which means enjoying the sunshine having bbq's with friends and family. I love salads and hopefully we'll be getting a Summer soon where we can get out in the garden with friends and enjoy some lovely salads with our bbq's.

If you've not yet tried Apetina cheese you should really give it a go. It's a very versatile cheese that can be used in salads, soups, bakes and pies. Apetina is a creamy cow's milk cheese that's available in a classic or light block as well as ready cubed packs in their classic style or with herbs. 

Apetina are currently holding a weekly competition on their Facebook page where visitors who like the page and vote on their favourite salad will be entered into a prize draw to win a picnic hamper (basket, salad bowl, servers & dressing bottle). The prize in the final week will be a BBQ.

Hamper prize

I've created the Apetina recipe below using fresh salad ingredients and a tub of the Apetina Classic cubes, you could instead use a block crumbled or diced, or one of the alternative tubs with herbs and garlic. It used chilli infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil to give the salad a bit of a kick.

Zesty Summer Salad


Handful of Fresh Basil and Mint (approx 6-10g)
2 tbsp Chilli Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
250g Baby Plum Tomatoes, sliced lengthways
1 whole cucumber, de-seeded and sliced
1 red onion, peeled and sliced
1 yellow pepper, de-seeded and sliced
200g Olives
200g Apetina
Salt & Pepper to season
Few mint leaves to garnish

• Grind the basil and mint in a pestle & mortar with 1 tbsp of oil to a paste, add a pinch of salt and twist of black pepper to season.
• Add the rest of the oil, zest and juice of the lemon and set aside
• Toss the prepared tomatoes, cucumber, onion, pepper, olives and dressing in a large bowl until all the vegetables are coated in the dressing.
• Add the Apetina and toss briefly
• Decorate with a few mint leaves

This is a Sponsored Post but the recipe is my own.