This was a nice, light salad that I made for a Chefs Table last week. After a summer of looking forward to Autumnal ingredients, ironically I’ve found myself kind of panicked at the thought of summer produce coming to an end soon.

This salad featured seasonal ingredients. For the vegetables I used fresh corn, red bell peppers, black eyed peas, parsley, chives and shallot. I tossed them in vinaigrette made from equal parts dark brown sugar and apple cider vinegar with just a little whole grain mustard. I blended fresh shallot and thyme into the vinaigrette and finished it with salad oil before seasoning to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. This vinaigrette dressed the vegetable salad as well as the greens.

The potato basket was another recipe from “Happy In The Kitchen” by Michele Richard. Using a Japanese style turning slicer, I made long strands of potato. Rather than wrapping them around something like a rolling pin to mold and fry them, I used a zucchini. The upside to using the zucchini was that when you place the potato-wrapped zucchini in the deep fryer then the potatoes cook and the zucchini shrinks slightly as it cooks, making the potatoes much easier to slide off.

The last item on the salad was a whimsical little basil pinwheel. This was a basil gelatin that was rolled up then sliced. It didn’t really bring that much to the dish, but it was left over from formal dining and it looked cool. It works with the flavors of the dish as well.

Now that summer is coming to a close it’s time to begin looking towards the flavors of Fall. These are without a doubt my favorite flavors of the year and we’ve got lots of good ideas for the coming season.

As some may have already noticed, I’m slowing down my posts as I move through the busy months in the kitchen. I should have a new post every Sunday (That’s the plan at least) featuring my favorite dish or item from the week before. As always, I’ll try to answer questions in a timely manner and thanks for reading.