Grilled Summer Salad
Can we just take a minute to acknowledge how quickly this summer has flown by? How is it already August?! Crazy stuff! I’ve been trying to soak up the delicious flavours of summer before fall strikes and I have to wait another full year to enjoy delicious Ontario-grown produce.
Despite the heat, it hasn’t really felt like summer for me this year because I have been in school with a full course load since the beginning of May. Every time I tell someone that I’m in school right now they give me a funny look and I have to explain that it is simply because I am in a co-op program, so I flip flop back and forth between school terms and work terms. Since I worked in the winter, I am now in school, and I will be back to work in the fall. Despite all the projects, exams, and well, school stress, I’ve still managed to have a good bit of fun too, so I can’t really complain. That being said, I am very excited to write my final exam next Monday and say sayonara to this semester!
I decided to take a little break from studying for finals to write up this recipe to share with you all. I have been making variations of this salad since last summer and figured that it was about time for me to write it down and share it. The key here is to grill all the veggies without brushing them with oil first. Yes, really. And no, they won’t stick. Grilling veggies “naked”, if you will, gives them an incredible capacity to absorb flavours after they leave the grill. This is a tip that I picked up from one of my favourite food bloggers, Green Kitchen Stories. They shared a delicious recipe for marinating eggplant using this method that I would highly recommend trying. I’ve linked the reel here.
Let me know if you give this recipe a try! Happy grilling!
xx
Ashley
Ingredients
The Salad
- 2 ears of corn
- 1 bell pepper
- 1 medium eggplant
- 2 zucchinis
- 2 ripe, but firm peaches
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup chopped cucumber
The Dressing
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- 1 large handfull fresh herbs, chopped
- sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Fire up the grill and turn the burners to medium-low. Allow the grill to heat up while you prep the veggies. Husk the corn, slice the bell pepper into quarters, removing the seeds, slice the eggplant and zucchinis into thin strips, halve the peaches and remove their pits.
- Transfer the veggies and peaches to the heated grill and grill for 20 minutes. The goal here is to get some nice grill lines without burning the produce, so keep an eye on the veggies while they grill. Start flipping at 7 minutes, remove the eggplant, zucchinis, peaches and pepper at 15 minutes, leaving the corn to grill for a final 5 minutes. Allow the veggies to cool slightly before handling.
For the Dressing
- While the veggies are grilling, prepare the dressing. In a large serving bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients. Whisk in the chopped herbs. I like to use basil, flat leaf parsley, and oregano. Set aside.
Assembling the Salad
- While the veggies are cooling, slice the tomatoes and chop the cucumber, then add them to the serving bowl with the dressing.
- When the veggies are cool enough to handle, transfer them to a cutting board and chop them into bite sized pieces. The corn can be cut off of the cob right into the serving bowl. Transfer the other veggies to the serving bowl and give the salad a big toss to ensure that everything is evenly coated with the dressing. Let the salad marinate in the fridge for at least an hour before serving so the veggies have a chance to absorb the flavours from the dressing. The salad will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.
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