Summer Chopped Vegetable Salad

~Not surprisingly, I was at my happiest when I worked at, or around food. Unfortunately, my closest venture into fine dining, was limited to front-of-the house service. That did not deter me from sampling the entire menu. Not all at once, of course. One of my favorite items on the menu is Wolfgang Puck’s Chino Chopped Salad. Light crisp vegetables bursting with summer sweetness. This is my homage to that wonderful salad. For a light lunch, I like to add rotisserie chicken. Smaller portions also work well for a nice side dish. It can easily be transformed into a fancier main dish with the addition of a more substantial protein. See below for a list of suggested substitutions. 

Suggested Proteins:

seared salmon

grilled salmon

seared prawns

seared scallops

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup diced rotisserie chicken*

1 diced medium avocado

1 vine ripe tomato- seeded and diced

1 ear of corn sweet corn- cobbed

1 celery stalk- diced

1 medium carrot- lightly blanched and diced

1 Persian cucumber- diced

¼ diced bell pepper

1 cup diced green bean- lightly blanched

2/3 cup diced marinated artichokes

1 ½ tbsp minced shallot

mixed greens

juice from ½ lemon

1 ½ tsp sugar

salt

fresh ground pepper

½ cup creamy balsamic vinaigrette

Directions: 

1. In a small bowl, combine avocado, tomato, lemon juice, sugar, pinch of salt, and a few cracks of fresh ground pepper. Fold in thoroughly and set aside. 
2. In a large bowl, combine corn, carrots, celery, cucumber, green bean, bell pepper, shallots and chicken.  Toss with vinaigrette. 
3. To serve, place mixed greens on plates and mound with dressed salad. Top each portion with artichokes and avocado/tomato mixture. Crack fresh ground pepper if desired. 

*If using other proteins, omit chicken. When serving, mound protein on top of dressed salad for a more 'professional' presentation.