Summer weekends are often so much fun, spent eating good food and drinking delicious drinks outdoors with our loved ones, that they leave us feeling a bit haggard on Monday. George and I try to balance that by eating as clean as possible during the week. And during the summer, eating clean is at its easiest.
Tougher winter vegetables like sweet potatoes and butternut squash have to be cooked into submission before they taste delicious, but so many seasonal fruits and vegetables are best uncooked in the summertime, making it a breeze to quickly prepare a beautiful meal.
This summer salad involves absolutely zero cooking. It stars, along with all of that beautiful fruit from my family, one of my favorite summer delicacies: raw corn. It’s sweet and crisp and adds the most delightful pop of flavor. George is one of those “no meat, no meal” kind of guys, so I shredded some rotisserie chicken to add to ours, but if you want to keep it vegetarian, throw in a handful of chickpeas for added protein.
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Summer Salad With Peaches, Corn, Blueberries, and Goat Cheese
Ingredients
For the basil vinaigrette:
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves, loosely packed, plus more for garnish (1 large bunch is perfect)
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp white balsamic or red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp honey
- 3/4 tsp Kosher salt
- Pinch red pepper flakes
For the salad:
- 1 large head romaine lettuce, very thinly sliced (about 4 loosely packed cups)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 ear of sweet white corn, cut off the cob
- 1 peach, thinly sliced
- 1/3 cup fresh blueberries
- 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
- 1 small avocado, cut into small chunks
- 2 cups shredded chicken (from a store-bought rotisserie chicken, or grill a couple chicken breasts and chop them up)
- 1/3 cup candied pecans (or any toasted nuts)
Instructions
- To make the vinaigrette, combine all ingredients in a blender until only small specks remain. Set aside.
- To make the salad, place the lettuce in a shallow serving platter and season with salt and pepper. This is the key to a good salad: season your greens before you toss with the dressing.
- Distribute corn, peach slices, blueberries, goat cheese, avocado, chicken, pecans, and the reserved basil leaves over the lettuce. Lightly toss. Drizzle with desired amount of dressing (you’ll likely have some leftover, which will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator). Enjoy!
For the basil vinaigrette:
- 2 cups fresh basil leaves, loosely packed, plus more for garnish (1 large bunch is perfect)
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp white balsamic or red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp honey
- 3/4 tsp Kosher salt
- Pinch red pepper flakes
For the salad:
- 1 large head romaine lettuce, very thinly sliced (about 4 loosely packed cups)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 ear of sweet white corn, cut off the cob
- 1 peach, thinly sliced
- 1/3 cup fresh blueberries
- 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
- 1 small avocado, cut into small chunks
- 2 cups shredded chicken (from a store-bought rotisserie chicken, or grill a couple chicken breasts and chop them up)
- 1/3 cup candied pecans (or any toasted nuts)
