One cookbook has inspired much of my cooking this summer: culinary legend Patricia Well’s Salad as a Meal. Dishes that are light, sophisticated, simple and flavorful. Dishes that bring the season’s harvest front and center. Fast favorites include zucchini and fresh ginger veloute, cobb salad with lemon yogurt dressing, Provençal ham & cheese bread, and zucchini carpaccio with pistachios and avocado.
But most genius to me is a recipe that brings together my favorite ingredients: summer corn, bacon, ripe tomatoes, feta and avocado, swathed in the aforementioned lemon yogurt dressing. Add in some fresh summer herbs for a punch of flavor.
On lucky summer days, I wander our backyard garden to harvest some of the ingredients. And on other days I find an almost equally great source: the Lancaster County Farmer’s Market in Strafford. Open Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, from 6 a.m.-4 p.m., this local farmer’s market is bursting with wonderful fruits and vegetables, as well as meats, cheeses, breads, flowers and prepared foods.
Head over for everything needed to make this salad: S. Clyde Weaver for the bacon; Semaan’s Homemade Specialties for authentic Greek feta and yogurt; as well as Old Homestead Farm and/or Good Harvest Farm for your tomatoes, scallions, corn, tomatoes and avocado. Now go to it – this is one bite of summer worth shopping for!
Summer Harvest Salad
Adapted from Patricia Well’s Salad as a Meal
4 Servings
Ingredients:
- 6 slices center-cut bacon, cooked and crumbled*
- 2 ears fresh corn, shucked & steamed, kernels cut off*
- 4 ripe multicolored heirloom tomatoes, cored, quartered & chopped
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 medium ripe avocado, halved, pitted, peeled & cubed
- 2 small spring onions or scallions, white part only, trimmed, peeled & cut into thin rings
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ cup fat free plain Greek yogurt
- Zest of half-lemon
Directions:
Place the bacon, corn, tomatoes, feta, avocado and scallions into a bowl. Mix the dressing ingredients – Greek yogurt, lemon juice, and zest in a bowl and pour atop salad ingredients. (Add just enough dressing to coat the ingredients lightly and evenly.) Gently combine all the ingredients together and season to taste.
*Busy weeknight short cuts — Steam corn in disposable steamer bags. Microwave bacon between layers of paper towels on a plate.
