Grilled Summer Vegetable Salad with Avocado & Bacon

As promised in last week’s post, here’s the recipe for the grilled summer vegetable salad I made at the lake in Wisconsin! I feel like at last it’s really summer, and nothing says summer to me like grilling (and watermelon—I’m dying to try this interpretation—and the beach, and ice cream, and fun summer reading, and micheladas . . .). This salad would be perfect at a 4th of July celebration, along with some kebabs or burgers or really any grilled meat or fish. You could also add grilled chicken or salmon to make this into an entree salad; add a few toasted pecans too if you want to get really crazy (and really full).

This weekend Andrew and I went to Brighton Beach to walk along the water, lie in the sun reading (I’m reading The Handmaid’s Tale, the Margaret Atwood novel that inspired the popular TV show. It’s set in a dystopian present in which women have lost most of their rights—eerily apropos right now(!), and highly recommended), and pick up a few Russian staples from Brighton Bazaar, my favorite grocer in the neighborhood. We got some cold Georgian-style spinach and eggplant salads, pelmeni, extra high-fat sour cream, and two types of dark rye bread—the whole-coriander-topped Borodinsky bread and a Latvian rye with sunflower seeds. I’ve been having slices of the bread with lots of butter for breakfast and feeling fantastic about it. 🍞

What are you up to this holiday weekend? We are meeting family in Chatham (on Cape Cod). I’ve been to Cape Cod before, but never to Chatham, so I’m really excited. I plan to eat lots of seafood and do as many additional “things that say summer” things as I can. I might even make this salad again!

Grilled Summer Vegetable Salad with Avocado & Bacon

• 2 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch lengthwise slices
• 1 red onion, sliced into thick rings
• 2 ears of corn, outer husks removed
• 2 small or 1 large avocado, cut into thick slices
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
• 2 to 3 oz. baby arugula
• 1 lemon
• extra virgin olive oil
• flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

special equipment: a grill

serves 4 as an appetizer

1. In a medium saute pan, cook the bacon over medium heat, stirring frequently, until crisp, about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and place on a paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Set aside.
2. Heat the grill to medium. Brush zucchini and onion slices with oil, sprinkle with salt, and set aside. Begin to grill the vegetables in this order: corn, onion, zucchini. Depending on your grill, this will take different amounts of time, but cook everything, turning once, until softened with nice grill marks. Peek inside the husk to check the corn. Allow vegetables to cool.
3. Cut corn off the cob. Arrange the arugula on a platter, and cover with the grilled vegetables, corn, tomatoes, and avocado slices. Squeeze lemon over the top, drizzle generously with olive oil, and top with the bacon, a few grinds of pepper, and a sprinkle of sea salt.