‘The Pioneer Woman’: Ree Drummond’s Ultimate Grilled and Chopped Salad Is Perfect for Summer
Ree Drummond has the “ultimate” summer salad that’s perfect for hot days when you want something healthy to eat. The Pioneer Woman star’s combination of grilled vegetables and salad, topped with a homemade avocado lime dressing, can’t be beat!
Ree Drummond makes an easy summer salad featuring grilled vegetables
The Pioneer Woman star’s recipe introduction on the Food Network website explains the presentation of her ultimate grilled and chopped salad. “Ree enjoys presenting this salad on a big board, making small piles of the different elements on top of the green leaves,” the recipe notes. “It looks abundant and impressive in the center of a big table, and everyone can help themselves.”
Drummond made the big salad during an episode of The Pioneer Woman, calling it the perfect addition to a summer cookout.
“I love a big, beautiful salad when it’s cookout season,” she said. “So I am going to make a gorgeous salad … it’s an ultimate grilled and chopped salad. It’s sort of the best of both worlds. It has grilled vegetables, a delicious avocado dressing. It is perfect for all your summer and Sunday cookout needs.”
She grilled a variety of vegetables coated with oil, salt, and pepper on a grill pan for 4 to 5 minutes: asparagus, red bell peppers, summer squash, red onions, and green beans.
‘The Pioneer Woman’ star whipped up a homemade avocado dressing
Drummond made an easy dressing for the salad. She added avocado, olive oil, lime juice, lime zest, cilantro, honey, cumin, and hot sauce to a wide-mouth mason jar. “The reason I’m using a wide-mouth mason jar is I’m going to use an immersion blender to mix this up,” she explained.
“It’s just kind of an easy way to grind up that avocado,” she said as she blended the dressing ingredients together. “You can add more lime juice or more olive oil to make the consistency thinner if you like. But I like it to be really chunky. It’s kind of like a combination of guacamole and salad dressing.”
The Food Network host got to work cutting up the vegetables. “By the way, grilled veggies to me are like candy. I think they’re basically the most wonderful thing on earth,” she said. “And you can slice them, chop some. Basically, you want to cut them up into chunks or slices and I’m going to use them to decorate the most beautiful salad platter.”
Drummond assembled the salad platter
Drummond placed chopped romaine lettuce on a platter and added the dressing in a bowl.
To assemble the salad, she placed the veggies in piles on top of the lettuce. She added hard-boiled eggs, bacon, cubed pepper jack cheese, and cherry tomatoes. “This is what you call not only a grilled and chopped salad — the ultimate grilled and chopped salad,” Drummond quipped.
The Pioneer Woman star placed a tray of chicken bacon slider sandwiches alongside the huge salad. “If you had friends over for a summer Sunday cookout, how excited would they be over this menu?” she asked. “I don’t know what to dive into first!”
The full recipe is available on the Food Network website.
