Layered Salad with Ham, Pasta, Broccoli and Home Made Buttermilk Dressing - No cooking required

Summertiiiiiiiime, and the livin' is easy.  (Sing with me now),  Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high........ .  Who doesn't love this song by George Gershwin?  It certainly idealizes summer and is a truly beautiful song, BUT this summer has been more like.....  Hot town, summer in the city, back of my neck getting dirty and gritty, All around people looking half dead, walking on a sidewalk hotter than a match head.  Yeahhhhhhhhhhh.  Thank you Lovin' Spoonful, Summer in the City is one of my all time favorite songs.  I know I left out a few lines, but you get the picture.


This summer as been hot, hotter and then hottest.  We were in triple digits for several weeks and that was before July 4th.  Besides being hotter than a match head, it was dryer than dry.  No rain.  Grass looked like late August, crops are drying up and our garden was really suffering.  Even though we watered it every day, it's just not the same as a good soaking rain.  Happily, I can report that we had almost 6 inches of rain last week and the grass and garden are looking so much better.  We are supposed to have more rain this week which will certainly make it all better.  Corn and soybeans on the other hand, may not be salvaged.  I feel so bad for all the farmers.  


Since it has been so hot, who wants to cook?  We even had a grilling ban so it was the kitchen or nothing.  Fortunately, I found this wonderful recipe for a layered salad in my Food Network magazine that my two dear friends, Don and Rick, gave me for Christmas.  What a wonderful gift this has been.  
Unfortunately, I am not a food stylist and my picture doesn't look nearly as good as the one in the magazine, but the recipe is fantastic and it requires absolutely NO cooking.  It is a complete meal in one bowl and it's cool, crispy, crunchy, and delicious.  It even has protein in it.   What more could you ask for on these hot summer days?


Here is what you need.


8 ounces farfalle (bow tie pasta, about 4 cups,  I used gluten free fusilli so our son in love could eat it)
2 stalks broccoli, cut into florets
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup chopped fresh chives, plus 1 tablespoon
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (I used basil and thyme from my herb garden instead of parsley)
juice of 1 lime
freshly ground pepper
2 avocados, diced
1 12 ounce piece of deli ham, diced (about 2 cups)
8 ounces yellow cheddar cheese, shredded
1 small head romaine lettuce, sliced
2 tomatoes, diced  ( I used cherry tomatoes from our garden because big tomatoes were not ripe yet)
I also added some sliced radishes from our garden.


1.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cook pasta according to directions until al dente (about 2 minutes less than the label directs).  Add broccoli during the last 2 minutes of cooking.  (The recipe says last 4 minutes, but I thought it made the broccoli too squishy, I like it crunchy).  Drain the pasta and broccoli and rinse under cool water; shake off the excess.  Remove the broccoli and pat dry.


2.  Whisk the mayonnaise, buttermilk, 1/4 cup chives, herbs, half of the lime juice, 1/4 tsp salt, and pepper to taste.  Toss the pasta in a few tablespoons of the dressing in a medium bowl.


3.  Assemble the salad;  Toss the avocados with the remaining lime juice in a large glass serving bowl and season with salt.  Arrange in an even layer.  Top with layers of the ham, broccoli, pasta, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.  Drizzle some of the remaining dressing on top and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of chives or cover and refrigerate the salad and dressing separately up to 6 hours.  Bring to room temperature before serving.


This salad is so good and the dressing is divine.  Spoon more dressing over the salad when you are ready to eat.  


Here are a couple of changes I would make.  I would add bacon to this salad.  I would put a layer of crisp fried bacon that had been crumbled on top of the lettuce.  Yum.  I know that requires cooking, but it would be worth it.  Also, I would make the bottom layer the ham and put the avocado higher in the salad so it didn't stick together in the bottom of the bowl.  Just a suggestion.  Other than that, you have one delicious salad with no cooking required which is more than perfect for hot summer days.  I know there are other layered salad recipes around and I have made a few, but this one is so good with the broccoli and pasta and the delicious buttermilk dressing.  My daughter just kept saying, I have to make this, it's so good.  


Thank you Food Network magazine for a wonderful summertime recipe.  They list total prep time as 30 minutes and it serves 8 if it's a main course, or many more if you use it as a side to another entree.  Be sure and reach all the way to the bottom when serving so you get all the goodness in the salad.  You don't want to miss any of it.  I have also made this dressing for other salads, it's that good.  


Next time it's too hot, too hot, too hot baby, give this salad a try - especially if you have absolutely NO desire to turn on the stove but want something really, really good to eat.  Try it, you'll like it and if you don't eat it all, you have left overs!  Yes!!


Everyday Donna


Things to Remember:


“Summertime is always the best of what might be.”
― Charles Bowden

Grilled Romaine Salad - My New Fave

Happy Monday to you all.  Do you ever get tired of the same old salads over and over?   I sure do, so this weekend I tried something new and I have to tell you it is now my new favorite salad.  I had seen Bobby Flay grill romaine on his show on the Food Network and I wondered how it tasted.  Let me tell you, it's easy, super tasty and it will be made again and again in this house.   I put my own little spin on it and our dinner company LOVED it which made me glad I tried it.

Now, I never really thought about grilling lettuce did you?  Somehow it did not sound like there was any way it would be good.  The picture in my mind was super soggy lettuce.  Ugh.  Plain grilled lettuce maybe not, but if you doctor it up this way it is fantastic!  It still has crunch and a bit of a smokey flavor from the grill, the parmesan cheese adds some nuttiness and saltiness, the tomatoes add a wonderful sweet flavor and the tangy balsamic drizzle is over the top!

Here is what I did to make this salad.  I had three heads of Romaine (you know how it comes in a package of 3), so I used them all since there were a lot of us here for dinner.  Cut the romaine down the middle  from top to bottom keeping the root end in tact so it doesn't fall apart on the grill.  Lightly coat the inside and outside of each half of the romaine with good extra virgin olive oil using a brush.  Put it on the grill for about 2 minutes on each side, just to get a little char and some grill marks on each side.  Remove from the grill and place on a plate or in a 9x13 pan.  I alternated the top and bottom of the lettuce slices for interest on the plate.

I had grated about a cup of fresh parmesan cheese and sprinkled it over the cut sides of the romaine as soon as it came off the grill.  The lettuce is just warm enough that it will melt slightly.  I had about a cup of grape tomatoes and I sliced them into small rounds and scattered them over the romaine.  You know, lettuce and tomatoes go together like peas and carrots.

Now, to make the balsamic dressing to drizzle over the lettuce.  Place about 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil in a bowl.  Add 1 tablespoon of good balsamic vinegar to the olive oil.  Make a paste from 1 large clove of garlic.  To do this, mince the garlic and place some salt on a cutting board.  Using the broad side of the knife blade, mash the garlic into the salt over and over until it forms a paste.  Add the garlic paste to the olive oil/vinegar mix.  Add a pinch if salt, lots of black pepper, and a tsp of sugar.  Mix vigorously with a whisk or fork until the balsamic vinegar combines with the olive oil.  Simply drizzle the dressing over the cut heads of romaine using a spoon.  That's it.  Your salad is ready and is it ever good!

I cut the long pieces of romaine in half because it makes a BIG salad for one person unless that is all you are having (which would not be a bad thing believe me).  There were a couple of pieces left after dinner and I put them in a corning ware dish and saved them for today.  It was just as good today as it was yesterday.  Yummo!

Next time you are wanting a different kind of salad, this is the one for you.  The  combination of flavors is outstanding.  There is the salty parmesan with the tangy vinaigrette combined with the sweet tomatoes and crunchy, smoky lettuce.  (I do recommend fresh parmesan over the grated kind in a jar.  It has a different texture and I don't know if the pre grated kind will melt).  Words will just not describe this salad to satisfaction, you are just going to have to give it a try.  Let me know what you think.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Don't be afraid to try new things when it comes to food, you may discover a new favorite.