The fresh flavors of grilled summer vegetable salad - summer squash, zucchini and eggplant - make a fantastic summertime side when mixed with feta cheese and a light vinaigrette.
My crookneck squash was begging to have its pictures taken. Who am I to deny a squash its 15 minutes of fame?
It's a miracle that we even have vegetables to harvest this year. We were feeling rather pleased with ourselves when we planted all of our vegetable seeds in the Spring and set them near a window to take in the warmth of the sunlight.
Birds chirping...Spring breeze whispering through the Aspen leaves...vegetable sprouts dying a slow death.
That's right...we forgot to water them. It's amazing that we managed to graduate from university. However, we do take much better care of our children than we do our vegetable sprouts. We water them several times per day. With summer just around the corner, we made a trip to the nursery, heads hanging low, to buy some established vegetable plants to fill the beautiful raised bed that my husband built. All is well that ends well.
For other summer salads, try my Crunchy Green Bean & Tomato Salad, Thai Cucumber Salad or Summertime Salmon Chopped Salad.
The recipe:
Preheat the grill to high heat.
Cut 2 crookneck or yellow summer squash, 1 medium-sized zucchini, and 1 Japanese eggplant into ½-inch slices. Feel free to use any combination of summer vegetables that tickle your fancy.
Place all of the slices in a medium bowl and toss with ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Place the vegetable slices on the hot grill and cook until the vegetables are just tender, turning once.
Remove the vegetables from the grill, cut them into 1-inch pieces, and place in a medium-sized bowl.In a small bowl, slowly whisk ½ cup of extra-virgin olive oil into ¼ cup balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.
Toss the vegetables with some of the vinaigrette. You shouldn't need all of it, but add to your taste. Alternatively, you could use some Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing.
Thinly slice about a dozen each of basil and mint leaves. Toss with the vegetables. Top with ⅓ cup of crumbled, good-quality feta cheese. I found a lovely sheep's milk feta that added a creamy, slightly tangy flavor without overpowering the vegetables.
Serve at room temperature.
Other summer squash recipes:
101 Cookbooks' Summer Squash Gratin
Kalyn's Kitchen's Zucchini & Yellow Squash Soup with Rosemary & Parmesan
Smitten Kitchen's Herbed Summer Squash & Potato Torte
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Grilled Summer Vegetable Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 crookneck or yellow summer squash cut into ½-inch slices
- 1 medium zucchini cut into ½-inch slices
- 1 Japanese eggplant cut into ½-inch slices
- ⅓ cup + ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil divided
- salt and pepper
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 12 basil leaves chiffonaded (rolled, then thinly sliced)
- 12 mint leave chiffonaded
- ⅓ cup crumbled good-quality feta cheese
Instructions
- Preheat a grill to high heat.
- Combine the crookneck or yellow squash, zucchini, and eggplant slices in a medium bowl and toss with ⅓ cup olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
- Place the vegetable slices on the hot grill and cook until the vegetables are just tender, turning once. Remove the vegetables from the grill, cut them into 1-inch pieces, and place in a medium-sized bowl.
- In a small bowl, slowly whisk ½ cup of extra-virgin olive oil into balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Toss the vegetables with some of the vinaigrette. You shouldn't need all of it, but add to your taste.
- Thinly slice about a dozen each of basil and mint leaves. Toss with the vegetables. Top with feta cheese. Serve at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Victor Yu
There is a restaurant I go very often and usually I take their grilled veggies sandwich, and I always wondered what sauce they put in it, the owner "refuses" to give out their recipe, just saying that it is a secret sauce. I'll try this one if the taste matches.
Lizz
Thanks for the recipe this looks fantastic!
Family Cuisine Food And Recipe
Thank you very much for sharing. Cheers !
heidileon
just perfect, the kind of recipe that goes just SO well with everything, either a pasta, grilled fish or chicken. Mmmm summer at it's best!
Zoltaker
Eating healthy and deliciously need not be mutually exclusive. Vegetables have a lot of inert flavor in them that you can let out if you cook them right like grilling. That said, there are lots of ways to cook veggies deliciously! Try other vegetable recipes at tanya's site, I liked them!
Sue
HaHaHa, I have friends who planted a Tomato plant..and decided if it survived they could think that aybe they might be able to raise children. Suffice it to say...they don;t have any kids...or Tomaots!!!
This looks amazing...will try it soon...the garden is bulging nicely...
Liz Marr, MS, RD
Beautiful. Makes me sad I didn't plant squash this year.
HannahBanana aka Amanda
Beautiful salad, and an amazing way to use squash. The feta really hits it home!
Elizabeth
This looks fantastic! I absolutely adore summer vegetables. What a wonderful way to celebrate the flavors of the season!
Krissy @ The Food Addicts
That is awesome! I have the same squash in my garden, as well as zucchini and eggplant. I should totally make this summer salad. So refreshing and organic!!