Summer Luncheon Salad #CookoutWeek

*Disclosure: I received product to sample from ­­­­­The French Farm.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It’s #CookoutWeek day 3 and today I’m sharing one of my very favorite recipes!  I’m pretty much salad-obsessed year round (though winter produce can make me quite glum).

My salads are typically quite simple (lettuce (or spinach), feta, kalamata olives, avocado (if I can find nice ones) & croutons).  But every once in a while, I go back to the one that started my obsession.

When I was in High School, but on my summer break, I would often drive the 90 minutes to go visit my grandma for the weekend.  We’d visit and play cards and sometimes bakebread and more often than not, she’d make us delicious salads for lunch.  It became our little tradition.

When I got married, grandma wrote out our special salad on a recipe card for me.

And when she downsized, she passed on the very plates we used for our salads (they’re in the picture!)

After college, I moved away and couldn’t make my weekend trips to grandma possible anymore, but we still often meet at my parents’ house (and we always make time for cards!)

For today’s version of the salad, I used the lovely ingredients I received from The French Farm as part of cookout week.  Connect with them on social media below.

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The French Farm is a Houston-based company that imports high-quality European ingredients for the home cook to enjoy.  The products are from small businesses that use traditional recipes and techniques that have been handed down for generations.

The French Farm was gracious enough to allow me to choose which products I wanted to review.  I received Moulins de la Braque Nicoise Olives in Oil with Herbs in Jar and Camargue Fleurde Sel.

The olives were a bit unexpected.  In my mind I was imagining the flavor of the kalamata olives I buy locally.  These olives were different.  Since they were packed in oil instead of brine, they were a bit less salty.  The also still had their pits (those are easy enough to eat around once you know they’re in there).  But what really threw me off was that the darker the olives were, the more bitter the flavor.  I think in time I’ll get used to the flavor difference and oiliness.

The Fleur de Sel was a fun ingredient to work with.  I’ve been mooning over fleur de sel for ages and I’m so excited to finally work with it!  Since the olives weren’t quite as salty as I was expecting, a small pinch of fleur de sel was the perfect little kick my salad needed.  I’m super super excited to start incorporating fleur de sel into some of my favorite salty-sweet desserts.

Summer Luncheon Salad

2 cups shredded romaine lettuce

¼ avocado, diced

2 ounces shredded cooked chicken

5 slices cucumber

1 small carrot, cut in matchsticks

1 hard boiled egg, sliced

½ roma tomato, diced

1 tbsp feta cheese, crumbed

5-6 olives, such as Moulins de la Braque Nicoise Olives in Oil with Herbs in Jar

Pinch of sea salt, such as Camargue Fleur de Sel (optional)

Place the lettuce on a rimmed plate or shallow bowl.  Top with the remaining ingredients, adding a pinch of fleur de sel at the end, if desired.

Serve with a roll or breadstick.

Serves 1

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