Arugula with cherries, sheep's milk cheese and sherry vinaigrette

In this hot weather simple and cooling is good. This super simple salad is off the charts delicious. I love fruit in my salads, and these seasonal cherries brighten up this salad with a sweet pop.

This salad highlights the use of aged balsamic vinegar. A few years ago my wife got me a fantastic bottle of 25+ year old balsamic vinegar, Manicardi Extra Vecchio. My life with vinegar was transformed forever. These are syrupy drops from heaven, tart, sweet, and complex, were unlike anything I have tasted before.

I find myself paging through this book for ideas, reading through recipes for advanced cooking techniques and wanting to cook every recipe in the book. These recipes range from super simple to complex, but they are all fantastic.

For more recipes from this cookbook click here.

Ingredients:

6 oz arugula

2-3 oz Machengo cheese, Pecorino or other hard sheep's milk cheese

8 oz cherries

Large grain sea salt

Black pepper

For the dressing:

1 teaspoon shallots, finely minced

2 tablespoons aged sherry vinegar

2 tablespoons 10 year old balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons 25+ year old balsamic vinegar

Sea salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup EVOO

Make the dressing by mixing all the ingredients together. Allow the flavors in the dressing to come together for 1 hour at room temperature.

Arrange the salad on a plate or a bowl with the arugula at the bottom, followed by the cherries and the shaved cheese.

When you are ready to serve the salad, drizzle the dressing over the salad. Serve immediately with the salt and black pepper on the table.