Here’s a fresh and healthy side dish to serve along anything you’re about to throw on your grill this weekend. It’s a combination of grilled veggies and a salad all in one! I actually recreated this from a salad I had at a restaurant recently.
It couldn’t be easier to make, just grill up your favorite veggies, go for a variety of colors, the more color the better, it adds to a pretty presentation. I even used some mini eggplant I found called Indian eggplant, which I thought gave it a nice visual and something different.
All the vegetables can be grilled ahead of time and set aside until you’re ready to plate everything together.
Crisp romaine lettuce is dressed with a rich, slightly sweet aged balsamic vinaigrette. I also added sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and creamy avocado into the mix.
Feel free to crumble some creamy goat cheese or feta on top with a sprinkling of pine nuts for more bling!
This is great for entertaining with ease and the presentation is gorgeous sitting on your platter!
- red, yellow and orange bell peppers
- eggplant
- zucchini
- yellow squash
- asparagus
- artichoke hearts, grilled or canned, drained of any liquid
- sun dried tomatoes ( soft and tender)
- sliced avocado
- crumbled feta or goat cheese and pine nuts, (optional)
- FOR BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE
- ¼ cup of a good aged balsamic vinegar
- 1 cup, extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, minced finely
- ¾ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper
- Prepare and slice all your veggies, place in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill them all ahead of time until tender with nice grill marks, set aside.
- Whisk all your balsamic vinaigrette ingredients together until well incorporated.
- Right before you're ready to eat place chopped romaine, sun dried tomatoes into a bowl and dress with the vinaigrette, place onto your platter.
- Take the same bowl, toss in all your grilled veggies and carefully drizzle balsamic vinaigrette all over them, not too much, a little goes a long way, taste to your liking.
- Carefully arrange the veggies on top of the lettuce mixture with slices of avocado all around the perimeter.
- Add cheese and nuts if so desired.
I’m Marie, a wife, mother, mother-in-law, and gramma of two beautiful girls. My passion is food, clear and simple but especially Italian food, hence the name of my blog, Proud Italian Cook. I want you to feel right at home here so grab a cup of coffee, I’ll get the pastries, take a look around and enjoy your visit! {
Another colorful and flavorful dish from Marie. This would be perfect for lunch, for dinner, or as a side dish and if I could only eat it without adding the cheese, and skip the bread, I might actually have a shot at losing some weight!
This is so versatile and looks beautiful! I love the addition of the avocado with the grilled vegetables…always like something new to try!
This looks delicious. Hope to make this on
Sunday. Will go great with our leg of lamb
for Easter dinner.
You have such fantastic recipes and your
presentation is always just perfect.
Denise
Beautiful and so healthy!
Grill time will be here soon and I can’t wait to make a platter of grilled vegetables like these!
So beautiful and so delicious…the calendar says grilling season is here, hopefully the weather will take the hint.
I agree that it could easily be a main dish and the variations are limitless.
I love grilled vegetables. This looks like the perfect salad.
Definitely my kind of eating but I wouldn’t consider this a side dish … it’s a wonderful meal.
The colors! The grill marks! I’m hungry!!
Beautiful colors and so easy to make…will be on our table soon !