Summer salads

Sometime after college I reached a revelatory discovery that lettuce-less salads don’t require mayonnaise. Add a little oil and vinegar to veggies and grains, and you’ll find endless combinations of meals for hot-weather palates. 

The recipe on the left below was my first adventure with farro, which is kind of like a thick brown rice. I like how nutty and filling it is, so much so that I wasn’t even looking for meat, and how pairing it with crisp veggies creates a varied texture and color profile. The tomato-watermelon combination on the right tastes like an explosion of summer freshness. You can stack it like I was inspired by Chris Hastings’ tomato salad to do or you can cut all the ingredients up and toss them up for a simpler version.

Lemony Farro Salad 

14 oz. farro, cooked and drained

2 bell peppers, chopped

1 bunch green onions, sliced

2/3 cup shredded carrot (I buy the pre-cut kind from the produce department) 

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

Greek seasoning, to taste

Salt and pepper, to taste

Feta cheese, crumbled (optional) 

Arugula (optional) 

Toss together all ingredients. Serve at room temperature or cold.

Tomato-Watermelon Salad Stacks

Tomatoes

Watermelon

Red wine vinegar

Olive oil

Fresh mint, chopped

Feta Cheese, crumbled

Slice tomatoes. Cut watermelon into triangles that have a similar circumference to your tomato slices so that they will stack together nicely.

Toss tomato and watermelon slices in red wine vinegar, olive oil and mint, all to taste.

Set one tomato slice on a salad plate. Sprinkle crumbled feta on top. Top with a slice of watermelon. Repeat the tomato-feta-watermelon layering, and then add one final tomato and sprinkle with a little bit more feta than used on first two layers.

Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Alternate version: chop tomatoes and watermelon into bite-size pieces and toss with remaining ingredients.