Zesty Summer Salads

Dress up your bed of lettuce with tons of toppings for a delicious main meal.



Kristin Andrus shares a cure for that same-old, same-old salad rut.
Macho Salad
6 cups Romaine/red leaf Lettuce, Chopped 1-½ pound rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 avocado, chopped
1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled
2 whole large Roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped ½ cup toasted almonds, coarsely chopped
1 cup corn 1 cup dates (about 12-14 whole dates, sliced
1-2 C cornbread croutons


Vinaigrette
1-1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon Balsamic Vinegar
2 teaspoons Brown Sugar
½ teaspoons kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Tuna Niçoise salad
1 pound small red new potatoes
8 large eggs (go for soft boiled not hard boiled)
1/2 pound green beans, stems trimmed
2 pounds fresh sushi-quality tuna
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
S&P
1 pint teardrop or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup olives
Your favorite lettuce


Vinaigrette: combine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3 Tb red wine vinegar
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 Tb chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 Tb minced fresh tarragon (use dried if you don’t have fresh)
1/2 C EVOO


Second Dressing
2 parts Aioli Garlic Mustard Sauce (Trader Joes)
1 part Red wine vinegar
1 part EVOO

You can cook the potatoes, eggs, and green beans in the same pot. Simmer the potatoes for 12 minutes to give them a head start, and then add the eggs and green beans. Boil the beans for 5 minutes until crisp-tender while continuing to cook the potatoes until fork tender. Drain out the water and put everything under cold water to stop cooking. Eggs should be soft boiled which taste so much better then hard boiled!



Rub the tuna with EVOO and a good amount of salt and pepper. Lay the tuna in the hot pan and sear for approximately 2 minutes on each side.



* I ended up broiling my potatoes with EVOO for 10 minutes to crisp them up but that’s not necessary.



For more from Kristin, visit www.kristinandrus.com.

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