Summer produce is rolling in; take advantage with salads! Whether you are at the beach with a crowd or coming home from work on a hot day, opening your refrigerator to a healthy ready-made meal can be a joyful experience. With a little prep work, marinated salads can save the day. The flavors will deepen and meld as they sit in your refrigerator, getting better day after day.
When making salads, always use fresh, high-quality ingredients. The flavor of the vegetables and fruits are the stars of the dish — they need to be fresh! The sooner you can get the vegetables from the dirt where they were grown into your bowl, the better. Produce in grocery stores may spend days or weeks in cold storage and transit before it hits the shelf. Take advantage of farmers markets, roadside stands, and other forms of local community supported agriculture. Maybe you aren’t ready to grow your own tomatoes, but many herbs are easy to grow in pots. Freshness matters.
The right tools can make all the chopping for marinated salads easier. A food processor or mandoline can be a big help with the prep work. If you use a mandoline, make sure you always use the guard to keep your hands safe. Some people use protective gloves as well. Salads taste better when your fingers are intact.
Good, sharp knives are a cook’s best friend. Invest in knives that feel balanced in your hand. Keep them sharp. To protect the blade, wash your knife with hot soapy water right after using it, dry, and store it in a knife block or magnetic holder right away. Knives should never go in the dishwasher. The hard abrasives in dishwasher detergent and all the knocking around that happens will take the sharp edge right off your knife.
Thai Shrimp Salad
Oodles of crunchy vegetables and the ancient grain quinoa form a healthy base in this Thai version of a slaw salad, while plump shrimp amp up the protein.
This salad is all about flexibility. You can switch things up as the produce changes at the farmers market. Add thinly sliced sweet peppers in place of the beets or substitute raw julienned zucchini and yellow squash for the cucumbers. Instead of edamame, use sweet peas or fresh butter beans. In place of shrimp, use shredded rotisserie chicken, or place a grilled salmon steak on top. Or, drop the shrimp altogether for a delicious vegan main or side dish.
1 cup uncooked quinoa
1¼ cup boiling water
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup green cabbage, shredded
1 cup purple cabbage, shredded
1 cup carrot, grated or julienned
2 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 cup edamame, shelled and defrosted
1 medium golden beet, julienned or grated
4 green onions, thinly sliced whites and greens
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
Peanut Dressing (recipe below)
½ cup salted roasted peanuts, chopped
1 pound shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cooked
Rinse quinoa well in a fine sieve. In a small pot, add water, quinoa, and salt. Cover and bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes until most of the water is absorbed. Check the pot around 8 minutes. If there is still a lot of water, leave the top off until finished cooking. After the water is mostly gone, remove from heat, replace the top, and let the quinoa steam in the pot for 5 minutes. Fluff the quinoa with a fork and let it cool.
Toss vegetables, quinoa, and shrimp in a large bowl. Toss in the Peanut Dressing and top with the chopped peanuts.
Serves 8 to 10.
Peanut Dressing
½ cup really good natural peanut butter, crunchy or smooth
1 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons Tamari or soy sauce
¼ cup honey
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon lime juice
¼ teaspoon cayenne
Pour the boiling water over the peanut butter in a heatproof bowl. Stir until it comes together in a smooth paste. Don’t worry; it will. Add the remaining ingredients and taste for seasoning. The dressing will taste a little sweet by itself but is perfect when paired with the vegetables.
Fresh Corn Salad with Lime
Fresh summer corn is a treat! And it really pops in this salad paired with the Lime Vinaigrette. This salad makes a wonderful side, or transform it into a delicious main dish by topping it with grilled chicken or shrimp. If you use shrimp, make sure to add them right before serving. Leaving shrimp soaking in lime juice will make them tough and rubbery.
Corn is a wild grass that originated in Southern Mexico 10,000 years ago. Indigenous people collected and ate the wild grass called “teosinte,” now known as “maize.” From there, corn migrated with the people south to Peru and north into southern North America. Fun fact: each ear of corn has an even number of rows of kernels and an average of 800 kernels on a 16-row cob.
When you are buying corn, freshness is key. Look for husks that are green, tight, and not dried out; if the brown silks at the top feel moist, even better. Give the ear a good squeeze from the bottom up to the top. It should feel solid and filled out all the way up. Peek at the very top to look for worms and see if the cob is filled out if you must, but don’t pull back the husk to look at the kernels. Corn begins to dry out once you remove it from the stalk. Opening that husk makes the corn dry out faster. Drier corn means starchier, less sweet corn.
When you get your corn home, leave the husks attached until you are ready to eat it (in the next 2 to 3 days). Wrap the ears loosely in a plastic bag, such as a grocery produce bag, to further protect them from drying out. If you seal the corn too tightly, moisture can condense in the bag and cause mold. Give it room to breathe.
2 ears fresh corn, shucked
1 cup shelled edamame, frozen and defrosted
1 avocado, diced
2 bell peppers, red, yellow, orange, or a mix, diced
1 mango, diced
½ cup Vidalia onion, diced *
Lime Vinaigrette (recipe below)
Cut the corn off the cob. Toss in a bowl with the remaining ingredients. Serve room temperature or cold. Serves 6.
*Chef’s note: If you find raw onions to be too strong, place the chopped onions in a sieve and pour 2 cups of boiling water over them. Let the onions cool and pat them dry before adding them to the salad. The boiling water blanches the onions and softens the flavor while maintaining their crunch.
Lime Vinaigrette
2 limes, zest, and ¼ cup juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon cayenne
Whisk ingredients together and pour over the salad.
Watermelon Cucumber Salad
Watermelon, like corn, is one of those signature summer foods. You probably know that a tomato is a fruit, but did you know that a watermelon is a berry? Botanically speaking, a berry is a fruit produced from the ovary of a single flower and has many seeds. Bananas, cucumbers, and blueberries are also berries, unlike raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries, which are not botanical berries.
Hippocrates used watermelon for a cure for heatstroke in children by placing the cool wet rind on their heads. While the efficacy of watermelon for heatstroke may be shaky, it is about 90 percent water and contains electrolytes, so it is a refreshing healthy food for hot summer days.
When picking out your watermelon, check the underside for a yellow or buttery color. Tap it and listen for a “plunk” sound. Finally, a ripe melon should feel heavy from all the water. To store your melon, leave it on the counter or place the whole melon in the refrigerator for a week or two. Once sliced, cover it in plastic so it doesn’t dry out, and store in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
This refreshing salad combines cooling sweet with spicy heat.
4 cups watermelon, cut into bite-sized cubes
2 cups Persian cucumbers, chopped into bite-sized chunks
½ cup Vidalia onions, thinly sliced
½ jalapeno pepper, seeded and deveined, minced
¼ cup lime juice, freshly squeezed
Zest from the limes
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated
A couple pinches of salt
Cayenne to taste (optional)
Toss the watermelon, cucumbers, Vidalia onions, and jalapeno in a bowl. Zest the limes over the salad, then pour over the freshly squeezed juice. Add the fresh ginger and toss. Add the olive oil and salt. Toss again and taste. Jalapenos range enormously in heat even on the same plant. If you would like more heat, add the other half of the jalapeno or a little cayenne. Serve chilled.
French Lentils Go Greek
Lentils are one of the world’s most nutrient-dense and healthy foods. To top it off, they are inexpensive and easy to cook. They may be one of the earliest cultivated foods with evidence of their use in Ancient Egypt and Rome.
Not all lentils are alike. The common brown, green, and orange or red lentils that you find in the store have a thin skin. When you cook them, they break down and become a bit mushy, which is wonderful in a soup, dips, or curries, but not great in a salad. “French lentils” are dark green with black freckles. They are sometimes are called “Puy lentils,” meaning they are grown in the Puy region of France. If they are grown outside of the Puy region, they are called French lentils.
French lentils are about one-third smaller than other lentils, more rounded, and have thicker skins. When you cook them, they hold their shape, making them ideal for salads. Look for them in specialty grocery stores like The Fresh Market and Whole Foods.
This salad takes the wonderful texture of French lentils and pairs them with traditionally Greek ingredients. It can be a meal in and of itself, or you can top it with poached salmon or seared tuna.
1 cup French or “Puy” lentils, sorted and rinsed*
1 teaspoon salt
½ bunch of kale, destemmed and sliced in ¼ inch slices
½ cup sundried tomatoes, sliced
½ cup roasted peppers, sliced in strips
½ cup Kalamata olives
½ cup marinated artichoke hearts
1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
3 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 cup high quality sheep’s milk feta, crumbled
Rinse lentils and check through for small rocks and stones. Place in a small pot with 3 cups water and the salt. Bring to a boil covered, then lower to a simmer for about 10 minutes. The lentils should be soft enough to eat but not mushy. Depending on the age of the lentils, they could take longer to cook (see chef’s note below). Drain the lentils and allow them to cool.
Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the sliced kale and drain immediately. The kale will be bright green.
Add the kale and remaining ingredients to the cooled lentils. Toss in the Greek Marinade.
*Chef’s note: Lentils can vary wildly in cooking time depending on how fresh they are. Some directions say to cook them for 30 to 50 minutes. The best way to tell when they are ready is to taste for the right texture early and often.
Greek Marinade
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried
1 tablespoon fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
½ teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
Whisk ingredients together and pour over the salad.
Enjoy!