Summer is quickly barreling toward fall, but some of our hottest weather is still before us. In that light, I'll be highlighting some great late summer salads until the end of the week. Stews, soups, and casseroles are just around the corner, but our cravings are hanging out with salad days for now!
Today's salad is a fun mashup of two other recipes recently featured on this site. The base is the Chopped Chicken Summer Green Salad with thinly sliced radishes, diced avocado, and chopped sweet peppers added and the chicken reserved to be tossed with a generous helping of the Chickpea Tomato Confit. The result is a stunning main course salad that, if you have the confit already made, takes about 20 minutes to put together. I "cook" like this a lot and summer, in particular, it an excellent time to make one bit of effort stretch by planning meals around what you already have on hand.
It also means there's room for additional tweaking. I've been known to substitute seared shrimp or tuna for the chicken in this salad, add a tablespoon or two of fresh salsa or chimichurri to the mix, or even serve the mix tucked into your favorite wrap or pita. Make it yours and save yourself time in the kitchen by finding new ways to use the kitchen magic you've already cast!
Mix It Up Salad
- Chopped Chicken Summer Green Salad
- Tweaks to the above salad: Reserve chicken and replace with some thinly sliced radishes, diced avocado, and chopped sweet peppers
- Mix the reserved chicken with 1 cup of:
- Chickpea Tomato Confit (ideally made in advance)
The best approach for making this salad involves beginning by making the Chickpea Tomato Confit in advance. You will need 1 cup of it to mix with the chicken reserved from the recipe for Chopped Chicken Summer Green Salad. To add a little more color and crunch, I like to add some thinly sliced radish, diced avocado, and chopped sweet peppers to the salad and layering that in a large serving bowl.
Once the confit and chicken have been tossed together (you can warm the mixture or have it at room temperature - having it cold is not recommended), layer that carefully over half of the salad in the bowl if you want to serve it as shown in the first photo in this post or add it and toss the salad thoroughly to serve it as shown in the second photo in this post. You can also bring it to the table as shown in the first photo and toss it immediately before serving, which is what I usually do.
- Yields: 4-6 servings
- Preparation Time: Nearly 2 hours, but most of that is making the confit, which is mostly hands off and should be done in advance. If that is your approach, this salad takes about 20 minutes to make.