Sometimes I wonder when I’m gonna get my actual act together and cook dinner on a weeknight like a real live adult. I start off the week with the best of intentions. There’s always meat in the freezer that could be thawed. There’s typically no shortage of vegetables in the crisper due to my weekly market run. I don’t have single girl syndrome to fall back on, I’m pretty sure my boyfriend of many years wouldn’t complain if my cooking-for-two was together enough to extend past Saturday and Sunday nights.

But then I get home at 7pm and I’m all like, “yea this single fried egg with hot sauce is a perfectly acceptable meal.” This brings me to the savory greek yogurt salad that has become a staple in my weeknight meal rotation. I’m not going to pretend that other grownups would consider this a full fledged main entree, but for me on a Tuesday night, it does the trick.

It’s tangy and savory and has protein, there’s salty feta and an herby cucumber tomato salad and lately I’ve taken to adding lots of toasty sesame seeds and for the tiniest sweet touch, some golden raisins. I feel like it’s a lot more well rounded than my standard egg for dinner. I will admit it’s a very summery salad --- cool, crisp and full of summer fare. I’ve had this salad in my back pocket for awhile now, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for all the tomatoes to disappear all at once! But since the market had no shortage this past weekend, I have no problem telling to you make this immediately, before it’s too late!

Savory Greek Yogurt Salad

Ingredients:

½ cup chopped tomatoes

½ cup chopped cucumber

1 teaspoon dill, finely minced

1 teaspoon parsley, finely minced

1 teaspoon mint, finely minced

1 teaspoon shallot, finely minced

juice of ½ lemon

tablespoon or so of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

scant ¼ cup crumbled feta

1 cup greek yogurt

Optional, not pictured:

sprinkling of sesame seeds (or sunflower or pepitas...or all)

golden raisins

Directions:

In a bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, shallot, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Put yogurt into serving bowl, spoon salad over top, dress with a touch more olive oil and fresh ground pepper, feta, and any other optional toppings if desired.

Serves 1

The radicchio I picked up three weeks ago, and by some miracle it looked just as perfect three weeks old as it did when first I gaped over it at the farmer’s market. The manchego I got two weeks ago, when I was visiting my mother and had lofty visions of using it with strawberries in some way. The herbs were leftover, as bunches of herbs usually are, from a different salad to debut someday soon. The first of the season corn and tomatoes found their way into my bag for less mysterious reasons --- I just could not leave the farmers’ market without them, obviously.

This was a made-on-a-whim salad, a caprice salad, if you will (I just learned that word and had to use it). All its components were gathered at separate times. Nothing about this salad was planned. It actually came about because some plans fell through. And in a moment of fierce Saturday night laze we decided to order a pizza.

As a person who grew up with a salad on the side for dinner every night, I naturally wanted to balance the pizza with a big bowl of veggies. I peeked into the fridge and suddenly all these random purchases fortuitously came together in a brief wave of brilliance.

It came about much in the way a Kitchen Sink Salad comes together. You look in the fridge and go “what of these things need to get used up now, fast.” Kitchen sink salads are pretty miraculous because in a sense they shouldn’t work at all. You cross your fingers and hope it works.

But this salad, this is no Kitchen Sink Salad. It’s too composed and perfectly compatible. I firmly believe that this salad was meant to be. That I had bought all these ingredients knowing that one day weeks later I would look in the fridge and be their matchmaker.

The sweet juicy tomatoes and fresh raw corn are the perfect foil to the bitter nip of radicchio. The manchego dressing delivers a rich needed punch to a salad so virtuous. The herbs keep things seeming summer light. And as always, sunflower seeds for crunch. I feel like this would make a delightful panzanella if you’re into that kinda thing.

First of Summer Salad with Herby Manchego Dressing

Ingredients:

Dressing:

1 garlic scape, sliced small

1 tablespoon finely chopped dill

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

1 tablespoon finely chopped chives

½ shallot, finely minced

¼ cup shredded manchego cheese

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

¼ cup red wine vinegar

½ cup olive oil

Salad:

½ head romaine, cut in ½ inch pieces

¼ head radicchio, shredded thinly

1 cup sliced baby tomatoes

1 raw ear of corn, kernels shorn from cob

½ cup roasted sunflower seeds

Directions:

Place all dressing ingredients in a small mason jar or bowl. If using jar, put top on jar and shake vigorously to incorporate ingredients. If using bowl, whisk thoroughly until all ingredients combine. Set aside.

To assemble salad place all ingredients in a large bowl. Pour amount of dressing to your liking over top and then toss very gently to coat.

Note: You will most likely have dressing left over. It will keep in fridge in an airtight container for at least a week.

Serves 4 to 6 as a side or starter.