Recipe from Martha Stewart: Alexis’s Chopped Salad

Martha Stewart’s 100th book, “Martha: The Cookbook” (published November 12 by Clarkson Potter), features some of the lifestyle entrepreneur’s favorite recipes. She shares with “Sunday Morning” viewers one of her daughter’s specialties. Stewart writes: 

“One of my favorite salads to look at, as well as to eat, is my daughter Alexis’s chopped salad. Each time she makes it, she tries to include at least ten different vegetables, and thus it is easier for summer preparation than winter, when farm stands and gardens are full of endless ingredients.

“Consider the list here a starting point. I change my version as my garden changes – it might also include three colors of string beans, several kinds of corn, and red, yellow, white, and striped beets.

“I sometimes serve this with a fancy grilled cheese sandwich for a luncheon or as a first course for a more elaborate dinner.”

Don’t miss Martha Stewart preparing some of her favorite recipes on “CBS Sunday Morning” November 10!
       

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Alexis’s Chopped Salad
Serves: 12

Ingredients:

Kosher salt
2 ears of corn, shucked
Pinch of sugar
½ pound green beans, trimmed
½ pound yellow wax beans, trimmed
4 plum tomatoes, seeded and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small yellow bell pepper, seeded, deveined, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1 small red bell pepper, seeded, deveined, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1 small purple bell pepper, seeded, deveined, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1 small red onion, peeled, cut into ¼-inch pieces, and soaked in ice water
1 medium jalapeño chile, seeded, deveined, and finely chopped
¾ cup whole cilantro leaves
2 Tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Radicchio leaves, such as Variegato di Lusia, for serving

Instructions:

1. Prepare an ice bath. Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the corn and sugar, and blanch the corn until tender, about 6 minutes. Remove the corn from water and plunge immediately into the ice bath. When the corn is thoroughly cooled, remove it from the ice bath. Using a sharp knife, remove the kernels from cobs. Transfer the kernels to a large bowl.

2. Add the green and yellow beans to the boiling water. Blanch them until tender, about 1 minute. With a slotted spoon, remove the beans from the water and plunge immediately into the ice bath. When the beans are thoroughly cooled, transfer them to a colander to drain. Cut the beans into ¼-inch pieces and add to the bowl with corn.

3. Add the tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumber, onion, jalapeño, and cilantro leaves. Stir to combine. Add the vinegar, oil, black pepper, and 1 teaspoon salt. Toss to combine. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Keep the salad chilled until ready to serve over radicchio leaves.

      
From “Martha: The Cookbook” by Martha Stewart. Copyright © 2024 Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia LP. Photographs copyright © 2024 by Dana Gallagher. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. Reprinted with permission.

     
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