How to make the perfect summer salad!

One of my favorite pastimes is going to our Farmer’s Market every Saturday, but with all the conferences I’ve been attending this summer, I haven’t had many opportunities to take advantage of our market. Luckily for me, while I haven’t made many shopping trips to our farmers market this summer, our local Wegman’s has done an excellent job bringing in many of the local fruits and vegetables we that Lisa and I love to eat.

With a push toward’s healthier eating I have been trying to add more salads to our diet, not only as a side salad but also as the main course. And while I don’t think Lisa would complain much if I topped our entrée salads with crabmeat, shrimp or lobster every time I made them, it wouldn’t be long before I would be tired of the same old salad…sigh Variety is the spice of life!

If you find yourself with leftover chicken, you can use it up in my chicken cordon bleu recipe.

salad of feta cheese, sliced peaches, grilled chicken, sliced tomatoes and corn on a white plate

A few weekends ago I was at the Big Summer Potluck, and one of the items in our swag bag was an amazing assortment of Gourmet Garden herbs. This was my first experience working with them, and I have to say they certainly make life easier using these delicious freshly prepared herbs. Not only did I make a wonderful marinade out of some of them, but I used the basil for my tomato salad that went on this lovely summer salad…..sigh It’s a beautiful thing when you can eat something this healthy that tastes that good.

partial overhead view of a salad of feta cheese, sliced peaches, grilled chicken, sliced tomatoes and corn on a white plate

I really hadn’t planned on making this salad with these specific ingredients but since they were all on hand, so they found their way into my dinner salad. When composing a dinner salad, it’s important to have a good selection of ingredients, your salad should be balanced for flavors, textures, and colors. While I got my flavor profiles and textures taken care of I do think I was one color short on making this salad visually stimulating….sigh I thought about adding olives but the flavor profile just didn’t seem right with the peaches and corn. Fresh Peas may have been the perfect color addition, but I don’t think the texture would have been right. What would you have used?

In any event, while not quite a visually stimulating as I would have hoped for, the taste and textures were outrageously delicious and got two thumbs up from Lisa, and since she’s the one person whose approval means the most to me, I was a happy man.

If you enjoyed this recipe you might also like these:

JSummer Salad with Chicken , feta, peaches, tomatoes and roasted corn

The Perfect Summer Salad Recipe

Chef Dennis Littley

When your looking for a salad that won't have you walking away hungry, try my summertime salad full of delicousness!

5 from 3 votes

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 10

Total Time 30

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Servings

Calories 656 kcal

Ingredients

4 cups field greens or chopped romaine lettuce
1 peach peeled and sliced
½ cup feta cheese crumbles
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs marinated with your choice of spices
1 ear corn kernels cut off the ear
2 Roma tomatoes sliced and marinated with olive oil basil and sea salt
extra virgin olive oil to taste
balsamic vinegar to taste
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Marinate chicken thighs for 3-4 hours (overnite is best) in extra virgin olive oil, and your choice of fresh herbs and spices. I used basil, garlic and spicy red pepper from Gourmet Gardens
Grill chicken thighs until done, set aside until cool. When fully cool, slice into strips
Place ear of corn directly on grill and allow to cook until tender. Set aside until cool and then cut the kernels off of the corn cob to use when assembly salad
Peel Peach and cut into slices, set aside
slice Roma tomatoes and add olive oil, sea salt and chopped basil. Mix well and allow to marinate until assembling salad

Salad Assembly

Place field greens on large serving platter
Starting from the middle, place strips of cooked chicken thighs and then work your way out to the edges alternating colors to form a pleasing display.
Serve with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Sea Salt and Black Pepper or your favorite salad dressing, and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 656kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 45gFat: 47gSaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 256mgSodium: 604mgPotassium: 1010mgFiber: 4gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 9284IUVitamin C: 17mgCalcium: 240mgIron: 3mg

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Thanks for stopping by today! Now get outside and enjoy this beautiful summer day!

The Perfect Summer Salad Recipe

Ingredients US CustomaryMetric 1x2x3x

Instructions

Salad Assembly

Nutrition

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Ingredients