Fiesta salad with salsa vinaigrette recipe
Whenever I plan the amount of food I make in my classes, I always make sure I have tons of whatever salad I am teaching. Â 96% of my students are women and women loooooove salad. Â And so do I. Â I could eat salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Â First course, side dish or main course. Â I love lots of color, texture and juiciness. Â And I love playing around with what’s in season.
One of my pet peeves is a salad of lettuce, tomato and cucumber all year round. Â People, this is so boring and completely out of synch with the seasons, unless it is summer. Â Get some red cabbage in there or some microgreens, herbs or radishes. Â Or something creamy like avocado, feta or peaches. Â Crunchy like nuts, seeds or jicama. Â There are infinite possibilities for salads and every meal is more complete and more delicious with a salad in it.
If you are planning a Mexican or Tex-Mex meal for Cinco de Mayo or otherwise, this salad is perfecto. Â It is super simple as it is written, but I will offer you a dozen ways you can make it more interesting and I’m sure you can come up with a dozen more. Â The best part of this salad is the dressing, which uses salsa or pico de gallo as the base. Â Chances are, if you are having a Mexican-inspired meal, you very likely have salsa on hand. Â And this is a great recipe to make the day after your Mexican meal when you likely have leftover salsa on hand. Â Speaking of dressing, I love this salsa vinaigrette not only only a salad, but on top of grilled fish, chicken or steak, too. Â Or on a big platter of grilled veggies.
In these photos, I used fire-roasted corn, but if you can’t find it or corn isn’t in season yet, use pinto beans. Â Shredded chicken or steak is amazing in here, as are cucumbers, grilled red onions or zucchini, cubes of Monterey Jack cheese or tortilla strips. Â If you want to add all these, go ahead and make lots more dressing. Â The dressing stays fresh in the refrigerator as long as the salsa is fresh. Â The pico de gallo in the pictures is made fresh at my Whole Foods, but it only stays good for about 4 or 5 days.
One of the best things about a salad as part of your meal is that you can usually prep the whole thing in advance and just assemble at the last minute. Â This salad is no exception. Â Greens can be washed and dried two days ahead. Â Vinaigrette can be made 2 days ahead. Radishes can be sliced the day before. Â This really is the perfect salad for your fiesta!
Fiesta Salad with Salsa Vinaigrette
Ingredients
- Vinaigrette:
- ½ cup fresh pico de gallo pulse it in the food processor if it’s too chunky
- 3 Tablespoons unrefined cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ - ¾ teaspoon sea salt or to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2-3 teaspoons raw honey
- a couple pinches of chili powder
- 2 ears of corn shucked or 1 ½ cups thawed frozen fire-roasted corn or cooked pinto beans
- 8 cups chopped lettuce like Romaine or Butter lettuce
- 1 cup thinly sliced radishes
- 1-2 ripe avocados sliced or cubed
- 1/3 cup pepitas toasted and drizzled with ¼ teaspoon olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt OR sub a handful of tortilla strips instead of the pepitas
Instructions
- To make the vinaigrette, whisk all the dressing ingredients in a bowl until combined. Set aside.
- Preheat a grill to medium. Grill corn directly on the grill, turning occasionally until lightly charred on all sides. Remove from the grill and place on a cutting board. Cut the kernels off the cob.
- Place the lettuce, corn kernels, radishes, avocados and pepitas in a salad bowl. Dip a piece of lettuce into the dressing and taste for seasoning. Drizzle salad with enough dressing to coat lightly and combine gently.