Quick 'n easy salmon salad

Recipes: Summer salad with salmon, Quick pickled cucumber and onion

I've been working long hours this summer bartending poolside at a local resort, and when I finally drag myself home the last thing I feel like is making dinner. What to do when you're hungry and tired, and going out doesn't sound good?

Fortunately it's also tomato season, and while I've been at work my partner Wayne has been tending the tomatoes. We are rewarded with wonderful ripe Early Girls and two different varieties of heirlooms plus fabulous Italian marzanos. And there are also three varieties of cherry/grape-style tiny tomatoes that are producing like crazy. You can see we'd be awash if we hadn't solved both the "too-tired-to-cook" and the "too-many-tomatoes" challenges by dining on salads three worknights in a row.

Our tomato-y salads were all delicious and so fresh, but the third was the best. Possibly it was so good because it was topped with chunks of broiled salmon. There are many variations of this idea - slices of sauteed chicken breast, rare New York steak, or sauteed portobello mushrooms - mmmm. Try it this summer when it's too hot or you're too tired to cook, you'll love it!

Summer Salad with Broiled Salmon 

Salmon salad

• Fresh baby lettuces, like butter lettuce, red leaf, romaine, arugula, cut or torn if large
• Fresh ripe tomatoes, any kind
• Feta cheese
• Half a can of garbanzo beans, drained
• A few fresh basil leaves, torn
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound piece of salmon

Prep a baking dish with melted butter and flop the salmon over a couple of times in it. Salt and pepper the side that you leave up. Turn on the broiler to high, but don't cook the salmon yet.

Wash, spin dry, and arrange the lettuces on a large plate. Slice or cut up the tomatoes and arrange them on the lettuce. Sprinkle the garbanzo beans and then the feta, crumbled, over the tomatoes and lettuce.

Slide the salmon under the broiler for 6 minutes, unless it's very thin (5 minutes if it's thin). Take the salmon out and turn off the broiler. Let it sit for a few minutes to cool off.

Meanwhile, drizzle the salad sparingly with the olive oil. Drizzle it slightly less sparingly with the balsamica. Sprinkle the torn basil over it all.

Slice the salmon or cut it into chunks with a fork. Place it on the salad and serve. Yum!

This salad, as well as the pickled cucumbers that follow, is gluten-free.

Pickled Cucumber and Onion

My neighbor brought over some of those long, sweet cucumbers in exchange for some of our tomatoes. I remembered a dish from my childhood. All summer long my mom would keep a dish of cucumbers and onions in the refrigerator. So I made some. It was really good with the salmon salad.

• 1 cucumber, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 red onion, sliced thin
• Apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar

Put the sliced cucumbers and onions in a bowl. Add the vinegar, salt, sugar, and a splash of water to cover. Cover with cling film and let sit in the fridge while you make the salad. Serve with anything, all summer long.