In The Wild Heart Kitchen

My Ultimate Summer Salad is filled with shaved summer vegetables, strawberries, herbs and crunchy pita chips.

There comes a point in ever person’s life where they finally realize that size really does matter. Wherever that opening statement left your mind, I really don’t want to know….but I’m referring to salads. I mean…really….what were you thinking?

I tend to make a fuss about salads because people don’t fuss over them nearly enough. Salads are often left as an afterthought. I recently elected myself president of the Persnickety Salad Association, where salads must be tossed with layers of flavors and textures….all cut into mouth friendly bites because a proper salad is all about the knife work. Gone are the salads where lettuce and vegetables are left in chunks, creating clumsy, awkward moments where you are attempting proper dinner table etiquette whilst trying to shovel lettuce leaves in to your mouth. You feel like a rabbit, you look like a rabbit. Enough said. Let’s avoid rabbit moments and think about size…because it really does count…beginning with lettuce. In my salads, lettuce (and other salad green) is cut into thin ribbons. I also slice vegetables thinly on a bias; creating more surface for flavor while being easier to eat. Cut the vegetables thinly and in easy to eat pieces creates a salad that tosses well, flavors that meld well, and each bite containing a little bit of everything.

Ok, enough on knife skills……now……can we discuss this salad? My Ultimate Summer Salad contains every single element of summer chopped into one (very large) bowl? Attention salad haters, salad enthusiasts and everyone in between; this will be the salad that you can’t stop eating, won’t stop eating, and you will make every day by the trough-full. Serve it to your guests, your closest friend, or make a bucket of it just for little old you. Go on, you deserve it.

Why You’ll Love My Ultimate Summer Salad!

My Ultimate Summer Salad has my entire garden thrown in it yet its perfectly balanced; crisp ribbons of baby lettuce tossed with shaved fennel, cucumber, sugar snap peas and bright acidity from strawberries. Next we layer with some bite from shallots, a salty nibble from crumbled feta cheese, richness from avocado, and a layer of luxury from a shower of garden fresh herbs. To finish, I lightly toss with olive oil and balsamic and top with crumbled pita chips for a much needed crunch.

The best part about this salad? You can play with the ingredient list to suite your salad needs including swapping out the fennel for asparagus spears (cut on a thin bias, of course). A summer salad should highlight the produce of the season and this salad reflects what is growing in mine. An example is the (optional) chive blossoms, which grow in abundance in my garden. Edible flowers bring a little extra finesse to salad. Chive blossoms are perfect because they can be broken up into smaller buds, creating a blanket of delicate purple flecks. If you don’t have chive blossoms overwhelming your herb garden, no worries. Or, dare I sound like Ina Garten, “if you don’t have chive blossoms you’ve nurtured from seed and read to them bedtime stories each night, don’t worry, store bought is just fine.”

Go! Live! Be wild and eat salad! The good kind of salad! The best kind of salad! This salad! May it unshackle you from salad boredom and your old hare habits! Happy salad making, happy summer…. and remember folks, size matters.

Print Recipe

My Ultimate Summer Salad

My Ultimate Summer Salad is filled with shaved summer vegetables, strawberries, herbs and crunchy pita chips.

Course: Brunch, Dinner, Lunch, Salad, Side Dish

Keyword: salad

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 8 oz. baby crisp green leaf lettuce thin ribbons
• 1/2 long English cucumber cut lengthwise, sliced on bias 1/4 inch thick
• 6 oz. sugar snap peas sliced on bias 1/4 inch thick
• 1/4 cup shallot thinly sliced
• 1/3 heaping cup strawberries 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 medium avocado 1/2 pieces
• 1 oz. feta cheese crumbled
• 1/4 cup mint thin ribbons
• 1/4 heaping cup basil thin ribbons
• 8 large pita chips broken
• 4 large chive blossoms broken up (optional)
• balsamic vinegar to drizzle
• extra virgin olive oil to drizzle

Instructions

• In a large bowl, combine the prepared lettuce, cucumber, sugar snap peas, shallot and strawberries.
• Top the salad with avocado, crumbled feta, mint, basil and broken pita chips.
• To separate the chive blooms: using your thumb, index, and middle finger, firmly hold the base of the chive blossom. Use your other hand to twist the flower, freeing the tiny blooms from the base. Separate out the individual blooms and add them to the salad.
• Sparingly drizzle the olive oil and the balsamic vinegar over the salad. Gently toss the salad for ten seconds to fully incorporate the dressing. At this point, you may opt to add a little more oil and vinegar but do so in small increments; it’s easy to overdress a salad!
• Serve immediately and enjoy!

Notes

Balsamic Vinegar: Find a balsamic that’s thicker and a little sweeter.

Edible Flowers: Edible flowers are a subtle way of adding elegance to your salads. This recipe calls for chive blossoms, but swap it for borage which has a beautiful minty/cucumber flavor.

Storage: If you want to store this salad until serving, make the salad and reserve the pita chips and dressing until right before serving, otherwise the pita chips will get mushy and the dressing will wilt the salad.