summer salad Archives - Proud Italian Cook

I can’t think of a more enjoyable salad to make during the warm summer months ahead than this grilled eggplant with fresh tomato salad.

It’s fun to serve for picnics, BBQ’s and any of your upcoming parties you’re planning. All I can say is that whenever I make this and lay it out on a buffet table people gravitate right towards it, not only is it super delicious, it has a pretty presentation and as an added bonus it holds up very well at room temperature.

Grilling eggplant is so easy, just salt, pepper and olive oil both sides, place on the grill until tender with nice looking grill marks.

I like to look for medium size more slender eggplant rather than the rounder fatter kind, to me there’s less seeds, less bitterness. I also like to peel the skin off in strips, using a vegetable peeler go around the whole eggplant lengthwise making “zebra stripes”. If you take the skin completely off, the eggplant slices collapse and have no structure.

You can even grill up the eggplant the day before, then all you have to do is make your salad and assemble it all on serving day.

Fan your grilled eggplant unto a pretty platter and then proceed to make your fresh tomato salad. Mine consisted of sliced cherry tomatoes, chopped cucumbers, red onions, olives, feta cheese, parsley, basil and olive oil. Here’s were you can add your own twist on it, you can replace the feta with any special cheese you like, I’ve changed it up many times myself by using provolone chunks, fresh mozzarella chunks, or even those cute little mozzarella pearls

Once you make this grilled eggplant salad I think it will become a regular for you throughout the summer months.

Enjoy!

This grilled seafood salad is one of my all time favorites for light casual summer eating, it’s a combination of shrimp, scallops and calamari which lay on top of mixed greens and crunchy vegetables, it’s all tossed in a lemon vinaigrette that’s spiked with a little limoncello, which gives the dressing that extra zing!

All the seafood can be grilled ahead of time and then the salad can be composed at the last minute so it’s perfect for entertaining. Add some crusty bread and a bottle of wine and I promise you’ll be in for a scrumptious treat!

I used this beautiful new grill pan I got, but any grill pan will do.

Quite honestly I don’t like grilling delicate seafood directly on top of the grates on my out door grill unless it’s on a plank or something to hold them secure, because with out fail something always falls between the grates and I have to try and pick it out before it burns, so I’ve always used an indoor grill pan for this grilled seafood salad.

I already own a heavy cast iron grill pan with a popular name that I thought I would use much more than I do, but it’s a pain to clean. I end up boiling water in it to loosen up the food that gets stuck between the grates then I have to take my time using a plastic scraper to try and remove it all, like I said it’s a pain!

Fresh, easy and pretty enough for a summer party, picnic or any get together of friends or family!

Arrange everything on a big platter with crusty bread all around and some of the grilled lemons and you’ll be sure to impress your guests.

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4.9 from 71 reviews

Grilled Seafood Salad

Author: Marie

Ingredients

Amounts will very according to your seafood preference, this is just an estimate on what I used for 4 servings.
SEAFOOD
8 large shrimp, tails off
8 oz. sea scallops
1 lb. of calamari ( I leave the bodies whole and cut into rings later, it's easier
SEAFOOD MARINADE
4 cloves of chopped garlic
the zest of 1 big lemon
a handful of chopped parsley
salt and pepper
drizzled olive oil to coat seafood
2 lemons, cut into slices for grilling
SALAD
2 fennel bulbs, sliced thin
1 bunch of celery hearts with the leaves, chopped
5 radishes, sliced thin
a handful of capers
assorted olives, sliced
cherry tomatoes, sliced
For the greens I used a mix of water cress and arugula,(mostly arugula)
LEMON AND OLIVE OIL DRESSING
1 part lemon juice ( with a splash of limoncello, optional) to 3 parts extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Make sure all seafood has been padded dry before you marinade them, you should have no added moisture.
Place all seafood in a glass bowl with all the marinade ingredients, toss and let it sit for 40 minutes.
Grill all your seafood, which can be grilled up to a day ahead, let it cool down then refrigerate them separately, if you're doing them ahead, not all mixed together. Either way seafood should not be warm or hot for this salad, room temp or cold.
Whisk up your dressing and set aside.
When you're ready to compose your salad slice the scallops into quarters or in half according to their size.
Cut calamari bodies into rings.
Leave shrimp whole and the calamari legs.
In a separate large bowl toss all salad ingredients together except for the seafood, you can add more or less or any other ingredient you would like to add, there is no exact rule with a salad.
Add and toss your dressing, less is more, don't drench it, taste as you go.
Grab a huge platter, place salad on top, arrange all the seafood on top of the greens, add in some grilled lemons slices.
Don't forget toasted or grilled crunchy bread, it's a must!