Description
A wonderful main dish salad recipe with a rainbow of healthy ingredients and a bright, tangy buttermilk dressing. Perfect for brunch.
Ingredients
Units
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For The Buttermilk Dressing:
- 3/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup sherry vinegar or good quality white wine vinegar
- 1 large clove of garlic
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped chives (or substitute scallions or shallots)
- 1/4 cup chopped basil (optional)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or fine sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 1/2 cups cooked Israeli couscous, cooled (from 1/2 cup uncooked) (or substitute 1 1/2 cups cooked farro, or arborio rice or quinoa)
- 4-6 ounces smoked turkey, diced (substitute cubed avocado, smoked salmon, smoked ham, grilled chicken or steak)
- 1/2 cup shredded asiago cheese (substitute shredded parmesan or pecorino)
- 1/3 cup dried sweetened cranberries (or substitute currants, raisins or chopped dried apricots)
- 1/3 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (or substitute toasted pine nuts, slivered almonds or your favorite toasted nuts or seeds)
- 1 dry pint sweet cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 1/2 cups cooked sweet corn kernels, cooled
- 4 cups loosely packed arugula leaves, chopped (3 ounces)
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Instructions
- Combine buttermilk and vinegar in a jar or bowl. Use a garlic press to squeeze garlic into the mixture. Gradually whisk in the olive oil, then the herbs and salt. Season with black pepper, to taste. (Can be made up to a day ahead. Store in the fridge. Bring to room temp before using)
- In a large shallow bowl arrange the salad ingredients into stripes. You can use a spatula as a divider, to help create crisp lines, as you add one ingredient next to another. (The salad can be arranged a few hours ahead. Cover and keep in the fridge. Bring to room temp before dressing and serving)
- When ready to serve, toss with dressing.
Notes
[This post first appeared on Panning The Globe in June 2017. It was updated in July 2019 with added nutritional information and more details added to the written post]
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: no cook
- Cuisine: American