This summer vegetable salad features the best veggies of the season: green beans, tomatoes, corn and a toasted sesame ranch dressing.
A restaurant near our house recently organized a special “summer vegetables” evening menu of the 4-course type + wine accompaniment. We jumped at the chance as it is one of the best restaurants in town. And We all want to celebrate vegetables, which don’t often get the spotlight here in meat-loving Indiana. It was fabulous. We always talk about the smoked onion dashi ramen (so delicious). The other highlight was unexpected: a simple summer vegetable salad and this intensely flavorful Sesame Buttermilk Vinaigrette. Here’s our attempt at trying and recreating this summer vegetable salad.
What’s in this summer vegetable salad?
We love recreating our favorite restaurant dishes at home (like these Greek and Italian dishes inspired by our recent trip). it is never enough like the original, but usually it works. This summer vegetable salad is pretty close to what we know from the original. The sesame ranch dressing is out of this world. Fantastic how the hearty sesame plays with juicy tomatoes and corn kernels. It’s a perfect way to use up those summer produce that are in abundance at our farmers markets this time of year.
This is what this summery vegetable salad contains:
- Green Babies: We like to use a blend for color and texture contrasts
- cherry tomatoes: Use multicolor for the most vibrant look
- Green beans: here we used both wax beans and standard green beans
- Corn: fresh sweetcorn adds a bright touch
- Sesame Ranch Sauce: Our healthy ranch dressing gets a makeover by adding a little toasted sesame oil: it’s divine!
How to blanch green beans
For the summer vegetable salad, blanch the green beans and wax beans. If you’ve never blanched beans before, it’s easy! Here are the basic steps:
- Cut the green beans (Here’s a tip on how to quickly cut the beans.)
- Place the beans in a large saucepan of boiling water for a few minutes until soft and light green. This should take about 3-4 minutes. Be sure to test the taste!
- Move them to an ice bath, a large bowl of ice water. Putting them in the ice bath will keep the bright green color! We also use this method in a summer salad as a main course, the Salade Niçoise.
Make Sesame Ranch Sauce
Aside from blanching the green beans, there is no other way to prepare this summer vegetable salad! Wash and chop the remaining vegetables, then stir in the ranch dressing. The hint of sesame in the creamy dressing is so good!
An advice : Must buy Goal sesame oil, not regular sesame oil. Toasted sesame oil has a strong sesame flavor and is used to add sesame flavor to dishes, while sesame oil has a neutral flavor and is used in cooking.
This summer vegetable salad recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten free. For vegans, plant-based and dairy-free, use our Vegan Ranch Dressing.
The description
This vegetable salad features the best of summer veggies: green beans, tomatoes, corn, and a toasted sesame ranch dressing.
For the summery vegetable salad
- 1/2 pounds of green beans
- 1/2 yellow bean pound
- 2 corn on the cob
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 8 cups green salad
- ¼ cup salted roasted pumpkin seeds
For the toasted sesame ranch dressing
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Trim the ends of the beans, then add them to the pan and cook until light green and tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Fill a bowl with ice water. Once the beans are nice and green, immediately remove them from the pan and place them in the ice water bath until cool.
- Cut the corn from the cobs. Halve the cherry tomatoes.
- Prepare the Healthy Ranch Dressing, then add the toasted sesame oil.
- To serve, arrange the washed and dried lettuce leaves on a plate or in a bowl. Garnish with beans, tomatoes, corn and pumpkin seeds and drizzle with your desired amount of sesame buttermilk dressing. (Leave extra dressing for future salads. Note that this dressing has a thin, not creamy consistency.)
- Category: salad
- Method: Raw
- Kitchen: American
Keywords: Vegetable salad, summer salad, summer vegetable salad, sesame ranch dressing
Looking for salad recipes?
Aside from this summer vegetable salad, here are some popular salad recipes:
Last update: January 2020
