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On warm summer days, a chopped salad makes a fresh and delicious meal. Amanda of Marshalls Abroad agreed to share her favorite recipe, which she describes as an “amazing burst of flavor”…
The Best Chopped Salad You’ll Ever Have
By Amanda Marshall of Marshalls Abroad
The beauty of this chopped salad is its fresh, local and seasonal ingredients. If strawberries are no longer present at farmers’ markets or grocery stores in your area, substitute blackberries, raspberries, pears, nectarines, plums or figs. The possibilities are endless, and the result is an amazing burst of flavor when paired with the avocado, gorgonzola, chicken and tangy lemon-garlic dressing.
I love this salad for parties, both for the presentation of the chopped ingredients in various bowls, and for the convenience of having a dish with choices that work well for many different people. You can toss this salad as one big dish, or toss individual salads depending on your guests’ tastes. It’s a wonderful and quick meal for this time of year, when you’d rather be outside soaking up the last days of summer.
Recipe: End-of-Summer Chopped Salad
Serves 4 (unless your husband is 6’6″ like mine and can eat half of it on his own)
You’ll need:
1 large head of crunchy romaine lettuce, rinsed and chopped
1 cup strawberries, chopped
2 avocados, chopped
6-8 oz. Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
1 cup walnuts
1 cup cooked chicken, chopped
1 cup cooked bacon, chopped
1 cup apples, chopped
1 cup red onion, chopped
1 cup grapes, halved
1 cup oranges, chopped
For the dressing:
2 ripe lemons
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
Fine sea salt, to taste
What to do:
Arrange each of the chopped salad ingredients in separate bowls. For the dressing, squeeze the lemons directly into a mixing bowl to allow any pulp to come out. Whisk with the garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, mustard and a pinch of salt. Taste, and add more salt as needed. If the dressing is too tangy for your taste, add more honey. Toss the salads when ready to eat. Enjoy!
NOTE: If serving more than four people, just double this recipe.
Thank you, Amanda!
P.S. More best recipes, including a peach tart and berry cobbler.
(Photos and recipe by Amanda Marshall of Marshalls Abroad. Thanks to Shoko for helping with this series.)
