How to Make a Salad that Feels Like a Celebration @lucyburdette

LUCY BURDETTE: after posting the recipe a couple of weeks ago about a tomato dumpling salad, I had salads on my mind. Why don’t I think of them more often for a tasty main course? I did some searching in our index and found that I actually have made quite a few salads, and some of them are memorable. But what makes them feel hearty and celebratory?

In order for a salad to sticks to the ribs, you’ll need to add protein. That can be in the form of cheese, nuts, beans, meat, or combination of all of the above. For cheese, my favorites are some good blue cheese, fresh, mozzarella, or the mild feta cheese I get at our farmers market.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Baby's house salad – this is one that I made copying the salad that we always get at our favorite pizza place in Key West, Clementes.

Panzanella, a.k.a. Italian bread salad. I could practically eat this every night. Love the croutons, love the fresh peppers, Love the tomatoes, love the added mozzarella.

Peach and cucumber salad: Wait till the peaches and cukes are ripe from the farmers market and add your best feta cheese.

Buffalo chicken salad – I used to order this at Archie Moore’s in New Haven and now you can make it yourself at home. If you can’t find their buffalo wing sauce, I’m sure there are other brands that would work.

Another restaurant knock off, this time, a Caribbean salad from Paseo’s (sadly no longer located in Key West.)

My big fat Greek salad: speaks for itself.

Salad for lunch: put out a smattering of different ingredients and let your guest pick and choose

Grilled steak salad, with or without the steak. You’ll see one of the photos is missing the meat and that could be so easily filled with some marinated beans.

Another summer salad, watermelon and cucumber with feta cheese.

Hope you find some inspiration there! For any of these, if you feel starved for carbs, add a tasty, homemade biscuit! 

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Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including USA Today bestselling and Florida book award winning A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. You can order that wherever books are sold. 

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