Do you ever watch cooking competition shows where the contestants have to taste a dish and then make it? Just go off flavors alone and re-create the dish. That’s sort of what I did here. Except I didn’t rush off right after I tasted it to make it. I waited three weeks and then made it.
While I was in Georgia a few weeks ago I had lunch with one of my very favorite people at a place called Zoe’s Kitchen. I had never heard of it but it’s a chain in the south. Lots of fresh salads, sandwiches and soups. We both got two huge salads and shared, but I was taking lots of bites of heres. It was called the live med salad and we ate at the Peachtree Battle location. But I did take note of all the ingredients and took a crack at making it myself, with some slight changes.
My version was fresh and delicious, just like the real thing. The only item I struggled with was the dressing. I could not get the flavor so I made a simple balsamic.
So if you live in the south, look up your nearest Zoe’s Kitchen and try their salads, if not, try this recipe at home!
Recipe makes two large servings.
Ingredients:
3 cups baby spinach
1 large zucchini
1 large yellow squash
1 cup cherry tomatoes (I used a multi-colored mix of orange, yellow and dark red tomatoes)
1 half chopped red onion
1/4 cup lupini beans
1 cup farro
3-4 large sundried tomatoes
4-5 large leaves fresh basil
2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
For dressing
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
juice from half of one lemon
Salt & pepper
Directions:
Cook farro according to package directions. When farro is cooked, add chopped sundried tomatoes, chopped basil and one tablespoon feta cheese to farro and mix well. Set aside.
Arrange spinach on plate to form a filled circle.
Using a mandolin or a peeler, to slice squash and zucchini into thin slices length-wise. Make sure to make them as thin as possible. Layer slices over spinach.
Prep lupini beans by rinsing them and laying out flat on cutting board. Slice each bean in half, length-wise. Be sure to remove the outer skin of the bean. It will naturally fall off when you slice them.
Combine chopped tomatoes, chopped lupini beans and chopped onion in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
For dressing, use a small plastic bowl. Cut open garlic clove and wipe inside cut all over the inside of the bowl. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon into bowl. Season with salt and pepper and whisk together.
Top plated salad with one scoop of farro and tomato and bean mixture. Drizzle balsamic vinegar on top and sprinkle with leftover feta.
Here is my salad, I left off the feta and added olives in my salad. But that was a personal preference.
On the left is the salad I had from Zoe’s Kitchen, on the right is my copycat recipe.
Enjoy!
By Bianca