Butter Lettuce Salad with Strawberries and Herbed Buttermilk Dressing

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  • Level: Easy
  • Total: 35 min
  • Active: 25 min
  • Yield: 6 to 8 servings
This colorful rainbow of a spring salad is tangy, sweet and addictive. The creamy dressing combines soft garlic-herb cheese with buttermilk, champagne vinegar and loads of tender green herbs. Tossed with mild butter lettuce, sweet strawberries, more cheese and crunchy sunflower seeds, this salad is the perfect centerpiece for almost any warm-weather dinner.

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Heat 1/2 teaspoon olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the sunflower seeds and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a plate to cool completely.
  2. Make the dressing: Combine half of the cheese, the buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, 1 tablespoon each of the chives, dill and parsley, the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and 2 teaspoons water in a blender. Blend until smooth and season with a pinch each of salt and pepper.
  3. Crumble the remaining cheese and set aside. Put the lettuce in a large mixing bowl and add half of the sunflower seeds, the remaining 1/4 cup each chopped herbs and two-thirds of the strawberries. Drizzle with about two-thirds of the dressing and gently toss to coat. Transfer to a serving bowl or platter and top with the remaining strawberries, sunflower seeds, the crumbled cheese and more dressing.