As the Summer kicks off and the warm weather is upon us, our cuisine tends to turn to lighter fare and salads are the perfect foil. I love a good salad and I wanted to share a super versatile salad I make which can be bulked up as a dinner entree or tapered down for a light lunch.
My 3 layers consist of a bed of pasta then a bed of greens with a bed of some type of protein salad on top. The pictures I am sharing here are 1} a bed of farfalle pasta {bowties} lightly tossed in extra virgin olive oil and freshly grated parmesan cheese, 2} arugula salad dressed in lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt & pepper and 3} chicken salad {from left-over grilled chicken} made with red onion, radishes, celery, mayonnaise, salt & pepper. I also topped it all with fresh herbs from the garden so technically it could be a four layer salad.
I would recommend to go easy on dressing every layer since you will combine them and eat them all together on your plate, melding all the different flavors. That is one of the the great things about this salad. The depth of flavor from the combination is so good and unexpected!. You don’t really want any one layer to overpower the others so all the flavors play nice with each other.
Although I did this with homemade grilled chicken because I had it left over, you can use canned chicken. I have also used tuna fish. Shrimp salad or any seafood salad elevates this to another level. Also you can obviously use any type of pasta or even substitute it with a grain like quinoa or farro. Of course also the greens can be any lettuce you prefer; my favorites are arugula and butter crunch.
The possibilities are really endless. I am not necessarily providing a recipe here but rather the concept of a great summer dish. This can be super simple for a quick lunch for two or as extravagant as you want to feed a crowd. You can really take it in many directions.
The key is to dress each layer individually the way you would if you were just eating it alone and then the combination is a wonderful explosion of flavors. I would love to hear what you cobble together for your 3 layer salad since this lends itself to so many personal preferences very easily.
on the menu ~ beyond the caprese salad