Southern Salad

SOUTHERN SALAD

A few words... For me the whole point of a salad is to marry fresh ingredients together in ways that compliment each ingredient. So, salad recipes are probably the most appeasing to your own unique spin. Take this recipe and make it your own.

Major Key: I had a thought to dice up some chicken thigh, fry it and use it as fried chicken croutons on this salad.  Just a thought :)

INGREDIENTS

For the salad:

• 1 ¹/₂ cups leftover cornbread, cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 ounces baby arugula
• 1 ear corn, husk and silk removed,
• ¹/₄ red onion, very thinly sliced
• 3 scallions, very thinly sliced
• 1 ripe peach, peeled and pitted, cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1 cup mixed cherry and grape tomatoes
• ¹/₂ pound thinly sliced country ham (can substitute, prosciutto or chopped cooked bacon)
• ¹/₂ cup glazed pecans (recipe on this site)

Buttermilk dressing

• 2 tablespoons chopped, white onion
• 1 large clove garlic, peeled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped basil from about 5 large basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• ¹/₂ teaspoon dried mustard
• 1 tablespoon Tastic spice *
• ¹/₂ cup mayonnaise
• ¹/₂ cup buttermilk, well shaken
• 1 lemon, zested

DIRECTIONS

1. Add all ingredients to a heavy duty blender. Process until smooth. Taste for seasoning, adding Tastic spice if needed. Transfer to a bowl or jar and refrigerate.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the cornbread on a cookie sheet and drizzle with the olive oil. Using your hands, toss the cornbread to coat with the olive oil. Bake for 7-8 minutes, then stir and bake an additional 8-10 minutes until cornbread is browned and crisp. Set aside. Arrange the arugula on a large platter. Set aside. Use a sharp knife to remove the corn from the cob. Sprinkle the corn kernels over the arugula. Sprinkle on the red onion, scallions, peaches, tomatoes, country ham and glazed pecans. Top with croutons. Serve with buttermilk dressing!

* Tastic Spice is available HERE

Do me a favor?  If you decide to be great and make this recipe, take a pic and share it on Instagram and tag me (@mrfoodtastic) and use the hashtag #mrfoodtastic so I can see just how amazing you are.  I repost my favorite ones