This gourmet Italian salad is a recipe I often serve when hosting in the summer, especially when I don’t want to overcomplicate things or spend too much time in the kitchen instead of enjoying our guests. What’s quite funny is that I don’t like any kind of cheese (except for cottage cheese), so I try to avoid touching the burrata and Parmesan as much as possible! I let someone else take care of that for me… The advantage is that even without these ingredients (which are still key ingredients for this recipe), the salad remains very flavorful and delicious.
You won’t be disappointed at all! A quick note regarding the vinaigrette: make your usual dressing, just add some balsamic vinegar. I like to use a few drops of Fernando Pensato’s, but you can easily find another quality balsamic vinegar at your grocery store.
Ingredients
Arugula and lamb’s lettuce
Regular and smoked burrata
Parma ham
Provençal Olives
Artichokes with garlic
Toasted pine nuts
1 watermelon
2 grapefruits
2 green apples
Parmesan shavings
1 red onion
Vinaigrette
Preparation
When I prepare this salad, I work in « layers »: I start by placing the arugula and lamb’s lettuce on the plate, then I stack the rest: the artichokes, the grapefruit segments, the green apples as well, the watermelon cut into cubes or stars, the pine nuts that I quickly toast in a pan, the Parma ham, a bit of thinly sliced red onion, the Parmesan shavings, and the burrata cut into pieces. I drizzle the whole thing with vinaigrette enhanced with balsamic vinegar, and I serve it with a few olives scattered here and there.
Find out how to set an Italian-style table here.
