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!
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.
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.
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The Perfect Summer Salad Recipe
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
Thanks for stopping by today! Now get outside and enjoy this beautiful summer day!
kita
I’ve been staring at this salad in the slider as I edit for two hours now… I think it was the feta that finally thre me over the edge… I really want a big salad now! – See more at: https://www.askchefdennis.com/2013/08/summer-salad/#comment-121147
Chef Dennis Littley
LOL….you’ve probably seen more of my posts that you want to, with all the work you’re doing to my site! Luckily almost everything I post is Fat Kid Friendly!
Sandie@afoodieaffair.com
This looks delicious, fresh and different. I look for salads with lots of “other stuff” in them besides lettuce. This looks delicious!
Mary
I love markets too! Your salad looks delicious. I see you’ve added fruit, that’s also a favorite additions to my salads!
Chef Dennis
thanks Mary, and thank you for stopping by!
Julia Ann
Such a simple and pretty salad, a new take on the cobb salad. I go to the farmer’s market every Saturday for wonderful peaches and tomatoes in Indiana.
Chef Dennis
thanks Julia Ann, it was nice variation on a classic cobb
Kim | a little lunch
A chiffonade of fresh basil over the top is the only thing I could think of, Dennis, with possibly a drizzle of honey mustard for a sweeter aspect or a few drops of olive oil to pick up on the marinade. Frankly, I was too busy “devouring” the idea of this salad to alter it. 🙂
Chef Dennis
thanks Kim, those are some great ideas! Glad you enjoyed the salad
Terra
Going to farmers markets is the highlight of my week! Love that you combined peaches with this fabulous salad! Yum, Take care, Terra
Chef Dennis
It is for me too, I finally got to go again yesterday and I had make two trips to the car, I had bought so much fresh produce!
Vicki Bensinger
Nice salad. I live the addition of peaches.
Hope you enjoyed your visit in St Louis. Sorry I missed it.
Chef Dennis
Thanks Vicki! I had a great time in St.Louis, and the weather couldn’t have been better.
adam @unorthodoxepicure
Looks wonderful!
Chef Dennis
Thanks Adam!
hasna
Peach nd chicken..sounds wonderful
Chef Dennis
Thanks! It really was a nice combination
Tony Rose
Looks and sounds great chef.
Chef Dennis
Thanks Tony!
Louise
I think your “perfect” summer salad sounds wonderful Chef Dennis!
I’ve been quite pleased with Wegman’s local vegetable selection this year. The one thing I found since moving to PA is there really isn’t as big of a selection of fresh fruits and vegetables that I anticipated. I’m sure it’s because I live in central PA by many, many, dairy farms who grow lots and lots of corn and soybeans.
I don’t know much about presentation so the only addition I can think of is edible flowers. Perhaps some Nasturtiums. Mine are still blooming…
Thank you so much for sharing…
Chef Dennis
Thanks Louise! I like the idea of flowers on it, especially some contrasting colours!