Cool Down with Easy Main Dish Summer Salads

Grandma Sandy is on vacation, returning Wednesday, August 14. In the meantime, each week, we’ll feature a curated collection of the best of “Call Me Grandma!” In today’s post, we’re highlighting our favorite main dish salads to keep you cool this summer.

If you can’t stand the heat, get into the kitchen–and fix a main dish salad!

Here are three of my faves: one salad is Japanese inspired, one Thai, and one French. Two require minimal cooking and one needs no cooking at all.

Two of the main dish salads use iceberg lettuce because crisp texture is key.

How to Ensure Crisp Iceberg Lettuce

Years ago, one of my PR clients was the California Iceberg Lettuce Commission. And this is how I learned to prepare iceberg lettuce.

The trick is to core, rinse, and drain. To core the lettuce, whack the head, core-side down, on your countertop to dislodge and discard the core.

Rinse the lettuce by running water into the hole where the core had been, making sure the water penetrates all the leaves. Next, turn lettuce core-side down and drain well. Put the lettuce in a plastic bag and refrigerate for a few hours.

Cold Noodle Bowl is Light and Refreshing

A light and refreshing summer main dish salad, Cold Noodle Bowl, requires just 1 to 2 minutes to cook the Japanese somen noodles. Customize the recipe with your choice of vegetables and protein.

Sunny’s Salad Boasts Delicious Thai Flavors

This salad is named after Sunny, my son’s mother-in-law, who re-created this salad from a restaurant in Thailand, her home country. Sunny’s Salad has a mayonnaise-based dressing with lime juice, fish sauce, Thai bird chiles, and lemongrass for characteristic Thai flavor.

Salade Niçoise, A Taste of the South of France

My favorite summer salad, Salade Niçoise, does require a little cooking. You’ll have to make the easy French potato salad, blanch the beans, and boil some eggs. But the prep is simple and you can do it ahead in the cool of the evening.

Hot summer days may make us feel sluggish and enervated, but everyone will perk up with these delicious, restorative main dish salads.

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