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Tossed salad with romaine, radicchio, cherry tomatoes, and peperoncini in a glass bowl with green basil dressing on the side.
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5 from 20 votes

Italian Summer Salad with Basil Dressing

A crispy mixed salad with romaine as the base with delicious additions of cucumber, tomatoes,radicchio, scallions, peperoncini, roasted sunflower seeds, shaved pecorino cheese and topped with a fresh basil dressing.
Prep Time20 minutes
Total Time20 minutes
Course: First course, Salad
Cuisine: American-Italian
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 70kcal

Ingredients

  • Salad: be sure to wash greens
  • Romaine - torn into pieces
  • Radicchio - washed and cut into desired pieces
  • English Cucumber sliced lengthwise and cut into half moons and celery cut on bias
  • Grape tomatoes - cut in half
  • Cherry tomatoes - cut in half
  • Scallions green onions - use white and green - sliced
  • Peperoncini - we left them whole
  • Roasted Sunflower Seeds
  • Shaved pecorino cheese q.b. quanto basta - as much as you like

Basil Dressing

  • ¾ cup fresh lemon juice
  • cup white balsamic vinegar
  • 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
  • cup Dijon mustard
  • 1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 Tablespoon black pepper
  • 1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder

Optional salad ingredients

  • Italian meats such as Salami, pepperoni, etc.
  • shredded carrots
  • beans such as chickpeas, cannellini, garbanzo
  • cheeses such as feta, mozzarella, goat
  • microgreens, arugula, baby spinach, baby kale, etc.

Instructions

  • Prepare the salad, starting with the romaine and adding everything except the cheese and sunflower seeds in layers. Toss the salad and sprinkle the seeds and shaved pecorino on top

For the salad dressing

  • Add everything except the olive oil to a blender and puree. Slowly add the olive oil to the basil mixture so it will emulsify and blend thoroughly.
  • When ready to serve, place the salad on a plate and then drizzle the basil dressing on top. You can also dress the entire salad but we prefer doing it individually.

Notes

  • You can use red wine vinegar in place of the white balsamic but in this dressing we prefer the milder white. If you do use red wine you may want to add a teaspoon or two of honey.

Nutrition

Calories: 70kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Fat: 4g | Sodium: 559mg | Potassium: 87mg | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 165IU | Vitamin C: 9.6mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 0.5mg