Recipe report: Festive summer salads

These seasonal salads not only feature summer’s best fruits and vegetables, but they also include enough heartier ingredients to move into the entree section of the menu.

U.S.-grown watermelon is in season through September, and chef Evans makes the most of the juicy fruit by combining the red and yellow varieties in one summery salad. At Pura Vida in Cleveland, he tosses the watermelon pieces with two other peak summer ingredients—ripe tomatoes and cucumbers—and contrasts the fresh produce with creamy burrata cheese.

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Get a taste of the tropics with chef Sasloe’s Hawaiian-inspired salad. Each serving bursts with tropical fruit flavors, including mango, pineapple, shredded coconut and a passion fruit vinaigrette. The recipe calls for pork butt or shoulder that is first sauteed, then baked. The tender meat is pulled apart and tossed in a mixture of teriyaki sauce and coffee-flavored liqueur.

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Chef Shearer’s unique take on a seasonal salad landed her first place in a contest that celebrates independent neighborhood restaurants. Her twice-baked cornbread is made into crisp croutons, then combined with fresh strawberries and cucumber—both abundant in summer. Pecans and crumbled bacon provide additional crunch, and mint and basil add refreshing flavor.

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Juicy peaches simply scream summer. Chef Walrath of The Florentine in Chicago acknowledges the in-season fruit by grilling the flesh, slicing it up, then tossing it all together in a refreshing salad enhanced with Buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and a housemade Dijon mustard vinaigrette.

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A mellow honey vinaigrette brightens up this mix of baby lettuces, figs, hazelnuts and goat cheese. The combination of ingredients makes for an elegant side salad, but presenting them in a shallow bowl and adding a bit more cheese can easily turn this dish into a light entree.

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Tofu pumps up the protein in this recipe, serving as a key ingredient both in the dressing and the salad. Chef Stroud cross-utilizes ingredients that are conveniently available from other applications, including rotisserie chicken, edamame, bacon and barbecue sauce.

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