This is how we do salad

Lately I've been layering salads. Not just layering ingredients, but layering textures and temperatures. I know, that sounds weird, but it's actually quite the pleasant experience.

First take a cold salad of greens and "stuff" (onion, peppers, tomatoes, etc.) and pile atop some crispy chips. Next layer, something sauteed and/or roasted (serve while still warm). Top it off with some cheese, and maybe even a drizzle of dressing.

Yum. Taste, temp and texture explosion!

Take tonight's dinner for example. Not the best salad of this type I've come up with thus far, but pretty good.First, I bake up little cutup triangles of corn tortillas, with some olive oil and salt brushed on before hand (Michael discovered how great these are a couple years ago; it's a cheap alternative to bags of chips. AND, you can cut 'em all up, throw them back in the bag, and just make a cookie sheet at a time, as needed).

Next, quite simply (this time), some greens (Romaine, I believe). Nothing fancy for the cold, crunchy portion of this salad.

The warm layer...this time two different animals. First, I've discovered something that my husband could eat every night (at least while the stuff is in season), and it's so, so simple! I throw some kale and cut up beets in the oven (400 degrees) along with some garlic and olive oil, until the kale is crispy and the beets tender. Crispy, charred kale is AWESOME - I highly recommend trying it! Second, I sauteed up some broccoli, cauliflower and local chicken sausage until the broccoli was bright green (these were all items in my refrigerator that were in dire need of use, today). Oh, and I threw in some fresh basil, of course, from the pot out on the deck (if you didn't know, I absolutely LOVE basil, and attempt to sneak it in wherever I can). All of the warm items went on top of the greens. (the kale and beets second to the other, because I wanted that combination of color on top).

Lastly, I chopped up some lovely local Gruyere. This is one of my all time favorite cheeses..if not my absolute fav. Michael just happens to love it too. It's not often we both drool over the same cheese. All crumbled on top (it's a crumbly cheese), this was a nice finish to the salad, because it's sharp and flavorful, and just gets better with a little warmth from the warm ingredients in the salad.

That's it! The chips on the bottom, if the salad was made with a dressing, get a little pliable, yet still crispy, so you can use them to scoop up the salad. This time, they stayed pretty crispy, and were nice to bite into about halfway through a bite of salad.

I wish there were leftovers...


(p.s.: all veggies used were local and seasonal, partly from our farm share and partly from our trip to the farmers market this morning; the chicken and cheese, as mentioned, were from local farms; and, hey, the corn tortillas were from a local vendor too!)

Hope I've inspired!