It’s a three-in-one Real Life Test Kitchen day! Last Sunday, the lovely Mary T. and her sweet fella Dave allowed me to tag along with them for a day in the boonies picking blueberries. Blueberries have never been my favorite fruit, but tasting them there, straight from the bush, gave me a new found appreciation for them. As I tasted around finding the perfect bush to select my fruit, I kept noticing the savory flavor notes in them, things like black pepper, and a faint hint of an almost grassy green flavor. They really got the creative gears spinning in my brain. Yes, I’ll be baking desserts with my pail of blue booty, but the first thing I did was to make this salad. It’s a meal to itself, light yet satisfying — and FILLED with smoked salmon, goat cheese, sweet onions, roasted corn, pecans and oh yes, blueberries. And it’s tossed with a vibrant and flavorful blueberry lemon vinaigrette, which makes it even better. It was a hit in my house, and I’ll be making this over and over until the last of this season’s blues disappear. — Megan B. Click for Summer Salad with Smoked Salmon and Blueberry Lemon Vinaigrette!

Summer Salad with Smoked Salmon and Blueberry Lemon Vinaigrette

serves 2-4 as a main course

For the dressing:
1/4 c blueberries
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 small clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper (about 15 turns of a grinder)
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp maple syrup (or honey or agave nectar), to taste, depending on sweetness of berries
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil (I like to use a flavorful unfiltered variety for this dressing)
Whizz up all the ingredients in a blender except for the sweetener and the olive oil until smooth. Remove the inner lid and slowly drizzle in the oil while the machine is running to form an emulsion. Taste, and add sweetener if needed, adjusting amount to taste. This will keep in the fridge, but the oil gets solidified in the fridge, so if storing for re-use, leave it out at room temp for at least an hour, and re-blend to re-emulsify.

Salad:
7 oz arugula
1/2 sweet onion (such as Walla Walla), sliced thinly
1/2 c blueberries
1/4 lb (4 oz) hot smoked salmon (not lox), coarsely shredded
1/4 c chopped toasted pecans
1/4 c crumbled goat cheese
1/4 c roasted corn kernels (plain is fine too)

Toss ingredients in a large bowl. Dress right before serving. Enjoy!