Hey all! Sorry for the radio silence as of late. I had a really busy spring and haven’t had a minute to sit down and write. I’m trying to prioritize my time a bit better in order to contribute more to my substack, though, so sit tight. In the meantime, here’s a quick recipe for a dish I made last week to celebrate the first days of summer. I was really racking my brain for a simple and refreshing salad that wasn’t fussy and could be easily made by a quick trip to any local grocery store.
I knew I wanted to use thinly sliced summer squash as the base and canvas, so to speak. But beyond that, I didn’t have a strong vision for the dish. As I strolled down the preserved food section, I saw some beautiful pickled peppers, some artichokes in oil and some juicy sun-dried tomatoes. I instantly had a thought of a sort of chopped salad that was lighter and brighter and would really allow the zucchini to soak up all of the flavor of the oils and vinegars from the preserved vegetables.
I gathered the good and headed home to see what else I had that could make this salad even better. I ended up finding a nice chunk of parm and a few toasted walnuts in the pantry. The only other thing I needed was some fresh herbs to balance out the acid and fat. Luckily my wife has been growing some basil and mint on our porch, which ended up being the perfect accompaniment. I really liked the way this dish came together and ended up doing a similar version at The Four Horsemen this past weekend. Let me know if you give this one a try.
Also, you can sub in different vegetables, nuts and cheeses. Grilled and marinated chunks of eggplant, olives, some slivers of chorizo. All would be welcome additions. Marcona almonds and pine nuts would both be great. For cheeses, I could see a few spoons of chèvre being nice or maybe some thinly sliced buffalo mozzarella. There’s a lot of flexibility here, which I think is really nice. Have fun!
Chopped Summer Salad
Serves 2