Grilled Summer Salad

You're tired of hearing about Alaska, right? Me, too. Time to close that chapter and move on. 

I've got a delicious change of pace ... my new favorite supper salad. It's fast. It's easy. It doesn't make a bunch of dirty dishes. It doesn't heat up the kitchen. 

And it tastes good cold the next day! That's a win-win! 

Well, a win-win-win-win-win, technically, but who's counting? 

What you need: one big bowl, your favorite summer veg, some chicken, olive oil with a brush, jar of pesto, bread and salt and pepper. Oh, and some tongs. What could be easier than that? Here's the actual instructions, just in case the list above wasn't quite enough. 

(And, I modified this from a Bobby Flay recipe. My thanks to you, sir.)

Grilled Summer Salad

(This served two of us for dinner ... a one-bowl meal. We had enough leftovers for two large lunch portions.)

2 chicken breasts, seasoned with salt/pepper or in an Italian way

1 zucchini, cut in spears/quarters the long way

1 summer squash, cut in spears/quarters the long way

1 big red onion, cut in big rings ... so they don't fall through the grill grates

1 6" loaf of that "brown in the oven" crusty French bread from the grocery store bakery department (You know the kind ... it comes in a cello package and you take it home, take it out of the plastic and put it in the oven for 10 minutes ... just to crunch up the outside. It's already "baked," you just finish it off.)

Olive oil in a little dish, with a silicone brush

Jar of pesto

Grill chicken first. While that's working, brush the veg with olive oil (or you could spray them, if you'd rather!) and season lightly with salt/pepper. Have a light hand here because this is easy to over-salt! Throw those on the grill. Cut the loaf of bread into spears exactly as you did the zucchini and squash and put in on the grill last. You just want it to get a bit of a crunch. 

If you're really talented, everything gets done at the same time. If it doesn't, no biggie. Just take stuff off the heat when it's done and put it on a cutting board. And let the chicken rest before you cut it!

In your big bowl, toss a few spoonfuls of the jarred pesto. (Of course you can make your own, but that's a lot of work. Bobby Flay made a dressing with fresh basil. Show off.) Thin it out with a little olive oil so it's a bit more runny than pesto. How much of this you want is up to you. Like it really pesto-y? Make a bunch. Want to go lighter? Make less. You're not trying to soak the salad, just add a little twinkle to it.  

Then cut everything on your board into bite-size chunks. Throw it all in the bowl with the dressing and toss it around to coat everything. If you need more salt, add it now ... but taste it first! 

You could also add some leftover Parmesan or feta if you had it in the fridge. 

Serve it warm/room temperature. (But the leftovers are good cold!) It would be a great picnic dish ... no mayo to succumb to the heat. And it's hearty enough for a man to think he's not eating salad.