Almond, Grape, Arugula Salad with Havarti Dill Cheese

I’m on the home stretch on my last core rotation, Ob-gyn! Out of all rotations, this was the most foreign to me (after all, what’s more mysterious than PMSing women and the miracle of giving birth?). If you want to do everything from primary care to surgery to medicine, both children and adults, then Ob-gyn is for you. To my internal medicine mind, I just can’t imagine not ever having a male patient for the rest of my career, but there’s definitely more than enough work for these residents… I’ve developed major respect for Ob-gyn doctors.
Me: Don’t you ever miss seeing the men?
Ob-gyn team: Are you kidding?! Who needs men?
Life has been so busy with these 12-14 hour labor and delivery days (and nights!), long surgeries, and women with incredibly complicated pregnancies, so I’ve been eating more leftovers than I care to admit. This salad recipe is a happy accident made from a smorgasbord of my refrigerator contents.

Arugula (known as Italian cress/rocket/rucola) is a recent discovery, and its peppery mustard flavor is welcome change from the milder plain ol’ spinach. B does not like salads, but when I showed him this, he was at least tempted by all the ingredients – toasted almonds, sweet grapes, cream havarti cheese (with dill!), garlic pita chips … except the vegetables.

N: This salad is amazing! You have to try it!
B: I’ll try the salad if you take out the green things.
N: That’s not a salad anymore! 

I’ve eaten so many of these salads for lunch – I pack my lunches for the week with each salad in little containers (keep your chips on the side so they don’t get soggy!). At 5 am when rushing to the hospital to pre-round before the next total abdominal hysterectomy or emergency C-section, I definitely need a grab-and-go meal!

Almond, Grape, and Arugula Salad with Havarti Dill Cheese


Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound red seedless grapes
5 ounces mixed arugula salad greens
6 ounces cubes of havarti dill
1/2 cup toasted almonds
pita chips, to serve

Directions
In a small bowl, whisk together oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to make the dressing.

Cut your grapes in half. Toss your grapes, arugula greens, havarti, almonds and pour dressing. Serve with pita chips on the side or together with the salad. Enjoy!

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19 Comments

  1. i love havarti but i've never seen it with dill–must find! i suspect ob-gyn would be the most eye-opening (and perhaps traumatizing) for me too. 🙂

  2. I love a good arugula and cheese salad, never thought of adding pita chips! which is honestly surprising given my drastically high intake of pita chips… will have to try x