Here’s a perfect end of summer salad. I’ve included all my favorites from my favorite farmer’s market, The Port Austin Farmer’s Market. This is the time of the year to really enjoy fresh local produce and this recipe lets you do just that. If you want to make this a meat free meal, skip the steak and add a cup of drained and rinsed canned black beans. The dressing has a great fresh taste that I hope you will enjoy as much as I did. Flour tortillas easily become a great shell for the salad with a little time in the oven. You could just as easily trade the tortilla shell for a few tortilla chips tossed on a dinner plate. So, the next time you head to the grill, toss on a little extra beef to make a quick and easy dinner a day or so later. If you can’t find queso fresco cheese, I think feta would be a nice substitution. This easily serves 3 or 4 and you’ll have extra dressing for another salad. The dressing is a little thin in consistency, but I wanted to avoid using a thickening agent. Why not try to avoid chemical and preservatives if you can? Want to make an even easier salad dressing that will work perfectly too? Mix 1/2 part salsa and 1/2 low fat ranch dressing, it will be a great quick alternative to the dressing below. I used taco salad/tortilla pans to make a lower fat taco salad shell by simply spraying the pan with non cook spray and adding a flour tortilla into each pan. Cook tortilla in preheated 400 F degree oven for 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly browned. If you don’t have tortilla pans, use the underside of a muffin pan to create a taco salad shell.
8 ounces flank steak, thinly sliced and cut into bite size pieces
4 ounces queso fresco cheese, crumbled or diced
1 large head of leaf lettuce or romaine lettuce
1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
Kernels from 2 cobs of cooked corn
½ of one cucumber, peeled and diced
1 small bell pepper, diced
1 large tomato, diced
4 large radishes, diced or sliced
1 avocado, peeled and diced
Four 12 inch flour tortillas or tortilla chips (see note above)
Dressing
Juice of one lime
1/3 cup buttermilk
¼ cup olive oil
1/3 cup low-fat sour cream
1/3 cup salsa
1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
Toss all dressing ingredients in small bowl and mix until well blended. In large salad bowl, add all salad ingredients and toss with dressing. Add salad to plate lined with tortilla chips or taco salad tortilla bowl.
