Eating For Your Future/Spring Salad With Grilled Scallops

I love the produce section of any supermarket, and a farmer's market lures me in like the song of the siren ;) There's an incredible farmer's market in Madison, Wisconsin. Every Saturday morning the capitol square is surrounded by the most beautiful produce. Whenever I can, I love to go as I always find something new that I can't wait to try. 

I stopped by a Whole Foods store here in Chicago  and found this beautiful pepper. It's actually a striped variety of a bell pepper. Again, lure of the sirens, I just had to give it a try. To my delight, the flavor was so rich and good. So if you see them in a market, by all means give them a try. You'll be happy that you did.

  

This salad is so easy to throw together. I like the addition of a little grated Romano cheese and grilled scallops, but you can also make it a vegan version by eliminating the cheese and the fish. Below is before the cheese and scallops. Isn't it pretty?!!

And then with the addition of the cheese and scallops.

For this salad you will need;

*salad greens of your choice

*purple onion slices

*bell pepper slices

*small heirloom tomatoes(I like the green, orange and yellow varieties) 

*avocado sliced

*pomegranate seeds

*Fresh scallops

*grated Romano Cheese

Salt and black pepper to taste

What I like to do is layer the salad ingredients.

Begin by placing a layer of salad greens in your serving dish. The amount that you use will depend on how many you will be serving.

Next, slice rings of the purple onion. Separate rings and place over greens. Slice the bell pepper of your choice into strips and layer over onions. Quarter the tomatoes and layer over bell pepper strips. Slice the avocado and arrange over all ingredients. Finally, sprinkle pomegranate seeds over avocado slices. At this point, the salad is beautiful and if you wish, you may stop there. But if you would like to make it a little more special...

Pat fresh scallops dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle with freshly ground salt, black pepper and garlic powder. Heat olive oil in pan. Add scallops and allow to brown on each side for about 3 minutes. Remove to a plate and allow to cool for a few minutes before placing on salad. 

Before adding scallops to the salad, grate Romano cheese and layer over all other ingredients. Add scallops.

For the salad dressing, I really like to keep it simple. I simply drizzle a little olive oil over the salad and then squeeze a fresh lemon. But you can always use your favorite salad dressing if you prefer. I just like the light and fresh taste of the oil and lemon.

Serve and amaze your taste buds!

What I especially enjoy about this salad is the mix of flavors. The sweetness of the pomegranate seeds is the perfect compliment to the spiciness of the purple onion. 

If you give the salad a try, let me know. I would love to hear what you think.

Happy Eating!

Rhonda