With springtime (and, honestly, almost summertime) having arrived here in South Louisiana, I’m doing my best to make the most of all the fresh local produce I can get my hands on. … It’s not a challenging thing, really, because everything is in bloom down here and going to the local produce market is an adventure, simply due to the fact that I can get pretty much anything I could ever imagine — and a lot of things I’ve never heard of, too!

Ever since we lived in Nashville, I have loved raspberry vinaigrettes. The girls in my office tried to have a monthly ladies night out, and at one of these events, I had the most delightful farm fresh salad, topped with pears and a tart, tangy raspberry vinaigrette. Later that evening, I unabashedly dipped French fries in the dressing… and it STILL tasted good!

The next day, I may or may not have gone to the grocery store to get a bottle of raspberry vinaigrette. Because my kitchen needed that to spiff up all the salads I was making.

We’ve come a long way since Nashville, and this season, I have been really into strawberries. So, instead of topping salad with my go-to raspberry vinaigrette, I decided to make a riff on it, substituting raspberries for strawberries. And y’all, let me tell you, it was a GOOD decision.

This dressing is slightly sweet, a little tart, and a lot delicious. Depending on the ripeness of the berries, you might want to add a little more sugar to the dressing, as I found it was bitter without the added sweetness. I bet you could also add a little bit of honey to naturally sweeten this dressing, as well.

Here we go:

What is your favorite spring salad? Do you have a go-to salad dressing?