Copycat Ivy Chopped Salad Recipe and a Summer Dinner Party

Happy Monday! 

To remind, you can leave comments or questions on this thread.  Scroll to the bottom to see where.

I was discussing the high prices at restaurants during last week’s IG live and that I have been doing a few “copycat” restaurant recipes.  I posted a version of the Ivy chopped grilled vegetable salad on my site years ago and made a more traditional version at home this week.  The salad at the restaurant (even at lunch) is $39. Add salmon and it’s $45.  There is nothing special about this salad, trust me.  It’s delicious, but we can make it equally good at home.  Here’s the link to my recipe on my site.  To make it like the Ivy, swap in raw, halved cherry tomatoes for the grilled eggplant.

I had some friends over for dinner earlier last week and this weekend.  (I hate the phrase “dinner party” because it sounds so formal, which I am not).  I had very limited time to prep and to cook due to a busier than normal schedule, so I made two similar menus to keep easy.

Before I get into the menus, on Saturday night my friend Wah brought all the guys matching lavender shorts from the Gap and we had to take a photo.  Very fun hostess gift and they all rocked the shorts!

In general, I ALWAYS do a few things ahead: commit to a menu as soon as possible, set table and do flowers two days ahead, wash salad greens and make a vinaigrette 3 days ahead. Wash and chop any vegetables the day before, salt chicken two days before.

Weeknight dinner

My friend brought crudités and a whipped feta dip (delicious).

I made lemon-sumac chicken (also a side of lemon-sumac tofu for my son), spicy Caesar salad, baked rice with zucchini, pesto and herbs (teaching this in my August online cooking class), and mixed roasted vegetables.  I made a berry pie for dessert, served with vanilla ice cream.

Saturday night dinner

I served a large cheese board (sorry, no photos) with cheeses, crispy artichoke hearts (drain, pat dry roast with olive oil, salt and pepper for 25-30 min at 400 F), Divina roasted tomatoes, Divina onion jam, crudites, crostini, Rustic Bakery crackers, a homemade dill dip (from my Entertaining bootcamp). My friend Steve knows I love tinned fish and brought me an assortment, so I opened one and served it with fresh bread.

Thrive Market has a great assortment of Divina products at a discount and I keep many products on hand at all times for entertaining.  As you know, I am an avid Thrive Market customer.  Use my link for 40% off your first order.

• Lemon-sumac chicken with potatoes and I served it hot over arugula

• Wild salmon with avocado and citrus vinaigrette (from my Entertaining bootcamp)

• Spicy Caesar salad (made a triple batch of the dressing, breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan earlier in the week)

• Assorted roasted vegetables

• Crackle top blueberry cobbler with store bought ice creams and an almond-cherry semifreddo (July monthly online cooking class) for dessert.

Links for serving platters are here:  chicken dish is from Hudson-Grace, salmon platter is no longer available from Nickey Kehoe, salad platter is from Hudson-Grace, and vegetable platter is from Crate and Barrel.

xxPamela