It’s been a truly lovely weekend for me, the first in a while. Lately, we’ve been dedicated walkers, and yesterday my mom and I kicked off the recreational sports season by joining the Elamusmaraton in Noarootsi, walking 10 kilometers. Such a pleasant hike (20,250 steps by the end of the day!) and I still had enough energy left to make it to an evening yoga class. In July, I’m planning to tackle the 21 km distance, and slowly preparing for my very first marathon in August — on August 5th my friend and I will walk 42 kilometers in Värska. I’m honestly looking forward to it! We don’t get to see each other that often, life always gets in the way, but this will give us at least 8 hours to wander through Värska’s forests and solve the world’s problems together. Perfect.
Our trip to Noarootsi turned into a longer getaway when we drove over on Saturday evening and had dinner at Dirhami Fish Café — such a charming spot! And little Uku-Robin had the time of his life: the chef’s ATV was the star of his evening. The highlight was when the chef himself gave the boy a ride on the ATV. Naturally, Uku-Robin was beaming with pride afterwards, and now insists that we absolutely must get one of our own. Or at the very least, a ride-on lawnmower.
After soaking up all the joy at Elamusmaraton, we headed back to the city. That’s when we discovered that our cheerful ATV fan had once again come down with something — a 38-degree fever arrived uninvited. Honestly, I’ve had more than enough of these constant colds; how long can this go on? It’s exhausting. The one upside of a sick child, however, is that when he falls asleep with a fever at 8 p.m., the parents get a rare chance to rest and make dinner according to their own taste and mood.
Since our meals on the Noarootsi trip had been rather chaotic and far from healthy, we wanted something light for dinner — so I put together this very salad. On the side, we enjoyed fish from the wonderful Dirhami fish shop. If you want truly exquisite salmon, as Viljar said: “I’d drive to Dirhami just for this fish.” Well worth the trip.
The inspiration for this salad came from Rita Osa, editor at Oma Maitse magazine. She is an amazing woman — always beautiful and endlessly talented! We ended up chatting about salads last Thursday when Oma Maitse hosted a workshop at Stockmann to introduce their new Salads special issue. Honestly, if you’re even slightly a salad believer, hurry to the store before this lovely read sells out. One of my own salads — with wakame and rice noodles — is even featured in it. Watching Rita prepare salads that day really sparked my own cravings. She made three incredible dishes: one with buckwheat and strawberries, another with couscous, peas, and walnuts, and the third — a bright, colorful fruit salad. Inspired by all three, I put together this vibrant plate of fresh greens, crunchy nuts, and a blended basil dressing. Thank you, dear Rita, for the inspiration!
Fresh Salad with Cheese and Nuts
Ingredients
Dressing:
Preparation
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Boil the quail eggs in lightly salted water for about 2–3 minutes. Drain, place in cold water, let cool, peel, and cut in half.
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Arrange the salad leaves on a large platter. Slice the cucumber and cherry tomatoes into wedges and scatter over the greens. Roughly chop the nuts and sprinkle on top. Finally, crumble the Parmesan shavings with your fingers into smaller pieces and add them, finishing with the halved eggs.
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Combine all dressing ingredients in a tall jug and blend with a hand blender until smooth. Just before serving, drizzle evenly over the salad.
Note
- Lactose-free Parmesan shavings are available from Valio — just check the label, one of their three varieties is suitable even for those with intolerance.
