Cherries and tomatoes and feta. Who would’ve thought?

According to me, a former anti-fruit-with-vegetables-in-salad kind of girl, this is huge! I say former because fruit with my veggies in my salad is something I do on the regular. Technically tomatoes are fruits that mask as veggies but you get what I mean.

I live for these sorts of salads. Summery produce topped lettuces with a light vinaigrette completes me.

Oh and there’s cheese. Let’s not forget the cheese.

As you can see I had hopes of adding nectarines (instead of the tomatoes) but when I cut around the pit and tried to separate the spheres away from it, I ended up decimating the nectarine with my truly human strength. Or the center of the fruit wasn’t ripe enough? Good thing I had only purchased a mix of locally grown tomatoes and picked out the beautifully orange Sun Golds in replacement of those poor nectarines. The tomatoes added the pop of orange color I was looking for along with the necessary sweetness. So. Good.

I found these adorable little lettuces at my local grocery store. I instantly had thoughts of brushing these halved gems with oil and quickly grilling them. Grilled romaine is so ridiculously good! If you have my cookbook you know this to be true and the go-to part? It only takes 30-45 seconds on a preheated grill. Grilling adds this smoky-char flavor that entirely works and makes it look pretty for the platter.

Don’t knock it till you try it.

So after a short trip to the grill, I then haphazardly scatter the top with pitted cherry halves, tomatoes, crumbled Greek feta, pepitas and toasted pine nuts. Making sure to cover the salad with lots of flavor and textures.

Earlier I made my house balsamic vinaigrette, because balsamic and tomatoes and balsamic and cherries is never a bad idea. I then spoon-drizzled copious amounts of it all over this fine-looking salad.

Lastly but not least, I hand some extra cracked black pepper lying around so I sprinkled that over the salad as well. Someone at the table should be proud.

Although I couldn’t talk (i.e. bribe) my girls into trying this salad because they’re punks (kidding) it is my latest and greatest. Grilled lettuce genuinely elevates the salad but the tomato-cherry combo along with the feta and toasted nuts: phenomenal.

It can be scaled down or up depending on the situation. It’s fancy without being terribly difficult and paired with a chilled glass of rosé and/or grilled salmon perhaps? It’s summer at it’s finest.