SUNSET SALAD INSPIRED BY A CHICAGO CLASSIC
It’s that time of year when you have one foot soaking up every last bit of Summer, and the other looking forward to all of the Fall classics… but that leaves dinner in a precarious position. Is it time for cozy meals yet? Guess it depends on where you live and what the weather is like there.
But if we had to bet our money, there’s probably still plenty of incredibly fresh Summer produce popping at your farmers market and grocery stores, so do like Elizabeth does, and make a fab Sunset Salad to celebrate the last gasps of Summer!!
EK: Sometimes dinner is a big fresh crunchy salad. I don’t know about you, but I tend to order them out and rarely make them myself at home. But after being introduced to this colorful salad—with all the good things in it—over the Labor Day weekend, I couldn’t stop thinking about making it. So, I leaned into my cravings, and made it. I figured while I was making it, I might as well share it here!
AU: How was the Windy City?? Your old stomping grounds!
EK: Yes! I traveled back to Chicago for the Labor Day holiday and spent most of my time in Sawyer, Michigan, which is on Lake Michigan and an area of Western Michigan that, as of late, is being referred to as the “Hamptons of Chicago.” Coastal Living magazine recently published a feature on the area and I have to say it is warranted! It is like stepping back in time with charming farmstands, bakeries and butchers that have been around since the early 1900s and new food destinations like Granor Farm which is part farm, part high-end “celebrity” restaurant, and part education; a charming You Pick Flower Farm, many many craft beer breweries like my favorite, Transient Artisan Ales and award-winning distilleries like Journeyman to name a very few hot spots.
EK: This was my second time visiting Western Michigan and I was excited to see the area, which is also called “the fruit belt” in the summer. My friend Lisa had a long list of ‘must dos’ including ‘Yoga in the Barn’ and taking a “famous” salad to the beach [Lake Michigan looks like the beach in this area] to watch the sunset. These are two of her favorite activities and she has had them on repeat all summer long—I was happy to get to experience both!
EK: I LOVED her “famous” salad and knew that I had to share it with everyone! It was inspired by the Wrightwood Salad from Crosby‘s Kitchen in Chicago. Google it and you will see that it is well known and loved by many, including my friend Lisa. On the menu at Crosby’s, it is described as rotisserie chicken, tomatoes, Craisins, avocado, corn, almonds, cornbread croutons, roasted red peppers, green onion, goat cheese, citrus vinaigrette.
The recipe for the salad is easy to find online with fans of the restaurant re-creating the salad at home. As cooks do…we all like to switch up recipes based on personal preference, the recipes were similar but varied from person-to-person.
Lisa’s recipe called for red onion instead of scallions and we used peaches instead of Craisins, and did not use any roasted red peppers. I nicknamed the salad, Sunset Salad because Lisa has made it all summer, packed it in Mason jars, and toted it to the beach to watch the sun set over Lake Michigan.
It is the best Mason-jar salad that I have ever eaten. Because we had the time and it was easy, we made Beer-can Chicken in the morning and pulled and refrigerated it for the salad. I also grilled ears of corn in the husk, and took it off the cob. Lisa made my cornbread recipe from scratch and turned the cornbread into croutons a couple of days before our Sunset Salad.
AU: And I bet if someone wanted a shortcut, they could simply purchase a rotisserie chicken, and even some pre-made cornbread to make into croutons… I love the idea of a make-ahead, portable salad. Perfect for at-work lunch, or if you’re lucky enough, a sunset beach walk!
EK: That’s right! When I made the salad this week, I was pressed for time so I purchased a rotisserie chicken and cornbread from my grocery store bakery. I did grill the corn because I had some of the last of the summer corn that needed to be grilled.
When I walked into the grocery store to buy the chicken, I saw the new Fall Honeycrisp apples and decided that thin slices of Honeycrisp apples and dried cranberries would be a nice fall twist. I’m a big fan of scallions, a.k.a. green onions, and so I added a little bit of thinly sliced red onion and a little bit of chopped green onions. I didn’t add the roasted red peppers, but if you like roasted red peppers, I can see them being delicious with all the other ingredients.
The citrus vinaigrette from the restaurant uses freshly squeezed orange juice as well as apple cider vinegar, a little bit of honey, and a little Dijon mustard. It’s a lovely vinaigrette, but you can also make your favorite vinaigrette and use apple-cider vinegar instead of red or white wine vinegar and you will have an easy fruity dressing.
AU: The other thing about making a salad like this in advance is that you can grill the corn, cube and toast the cornbread, roast the peppers (if using) way earlier in the week (or when you’re cooking other things) to minimize prep time.
EK: Right! And I did have to soak the corn in water and grill it in the husk before cutting it off the cob.
EK: I toasted the almonds in the oven, and I cubed the cornbread and toasted the cubes in the oven to make “croutons” which I forgot to shoot with the salad but I served them on the side!
Finally, I put the goat cheese in the freezer for a couple of hours so I could “crumble” it with a knife into smaller pieces which thawed quickly once I added them to the salad.
AU: That’s a great trick! Otherwise it’s too creamy to really “crumble.”
EK: The moral of this story is that you need advance time to get all your yummy toppings together.
EK: Feel free to riff on this Sunset Salad with all your favorite salad toppings and change it up by the season!
Thanks Ruth! It was a night to remember!!
The salad looks delightful! Definitely going to try it. Wish it could be out of mason jars lakeside. Thank you!