The Ultimate Grilled Summer Salad
When I picked up my second CSA of the summer and saw that there were 4 heads of lettuce included, I knew I was in for a lot of salad. But I also knew I didn't have to have the same boring salads you see everywhere. Since two of the heads were frisee, I made classic frisee salads for my girlfriend and myself (a favorite of hers: frisee with crispy lardons, a poached egg, and a nice tart vinaigrette). But for the other two heads (one green leaf and one red leaf), I decided to incorporate one of my favorite summer pastimes: grilling. That's right, you're going to grill the lettuce. Sounds crazy, maybe, but it's not. It's just delicious. You'll be surprised at how satisfying this salad is.
I added some pickled vegetables (feel free to substitute, depending on what you've got), and finished it off with an amazing buttermilk-herb dressing. You'll have enough dressing left over to keep dunking the vegetables you didn't pickle.
- 2 heads lettuce (green leaf, red leaf, romaine, frisee, doesn't really matter)
- 1/4 cup sliced pickled radish
- 8 pickled garlic-scape tops (or other pickled vegetable of your choice)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons chardonnay (or other white wine) vinegar
- 1/3 cup parsley
- 1/3 cup chives
- 1 tablespoon garlic scapes
- 2 tablespoons fresh oregano
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- Heat a grill to high heat.
- Split lettuce heads in half; try to do it in a way that keeps as many leaves on each side as you can.
- Brush the split lettuce heads with olive oil and grill 2-3 minutes on each side.
- Whisk dressing ingredients together in a medium bowl.
- Top with pickled radishes and garlic scapes, then top with dressing (go easy on the dressing — you’ll likely use about half of it, and the rest is good for a week after that).