Chez Panisse, the Bay Area restaurant where Samin Nosrat trained, has a reputation for being fanatical about seasonal produce. And while she acknowledges that she isn’t as fanatical as she once was (“Sometimes I make baba ganoush in January!”), that impulse is still foundational to her cooking. “One of the things that will never leave my body is the way you get to look forward to something returning every year, and that it feels like this reintroduction,” she reflects. This grilled salad, a tumble of the best ingredients that high summer has to offer, is one she makes every year, and is also one of the first things she cooked outside the restaurant that really felt like her own creation. “There’s a pleasure in remembering how good it all tastes again,” she smiles.
And while peak season vegetables are the star of the show here, the luxuriously creamy dressing deserves its own shoutout. It uses aquafaba, the viscous liquid from a can of chickpeas (or any other canned white bean), to create a rich emulsion that will remain thick and stable for several days in the fridge. Savory with miso, tart with lemon, and with the fun crunch of poppy seeds, it can make a great salad out of just about any vegetable (just ask a plain bowl of lettuce).
